The Legacy of the Greatest Swordsman
by TheSmilingMask
Summary: In the past, when the chakra did not exist and the men fought with different weapons and powers, a man in particular was feared for his strength. He was Dracule Mihawk, the Greatest Swordsman in the World. Now, that famous title has been lost in time but the spirit of Mihawk has finally found a worthy heir, a young boy named Uzumaki Naruto. Challenge created by The Sith'ari. ENJOY!
1. The Rebirth

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor One Piece.**

"Talking"

' _Thinking_ '

" **Demon talking** "

' _ **Demon thinking**_ '

[ _Time_ – **Place** ]

* * *

 **THE LEGACY OF THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN**

 **§ § § § §**

 **Chapter 1: The Rebirth**

 **§ § § § §**

* * *

[ **Unknown Place** ]

An expanse of water extended infinitely in all directions. The sky above it had a hue between gray and green without even a cloud, not even the sun or the moon were present, yet light wasn't still lacking. The only particular elements of such a surreal environment were iron pillars that rose to the sky and into the depths of the surface of the water, vanishing into the darkness. However, among that infinite set of pillars, there was also a gate constructed in the same way but with thinner metal bars and the kanji for seal positioned at the center of the gate on a large sheet of paper.

A sudden movement shook the water, creating concentric waves whose origin was behind the gate and that source was the huge body of a nine-tailed fox, currently lying with the two front paws crossed under the muzzle. One of its long tails moved slowly, shaking the water again. Despite the apparent depth of that ocean, its body did not seem to sink for more than a few inches, as if there was a sea bottom.

In all its majesty, the legendary and feared Kyuubi no Yoko yawned loudly, showing its long line of sharp fangs. Its eyes slowly opened, looking at the ocean in front of it from right to left and from left to right for a couple of times. When it finished what had become its daily routine, the Kyuubi closed its eyes again.

' _ **And even today nothing happened...**_ ' thought the beast with a mental sigh. Nothing new under the sun. After all the situation had been the same for six years now, since it had been sealed inside the body of a newborn baby named Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze, even though the second clan name was still a secret in the village where he lived.

' _ **Well...not always the same...**_ ' mentally added the giant fox. At first, for the first three years of its new imprisonment, the world around it did not present anything at all. Nothing at all. Only a boundless white expanse and the ever-present iron bars along with the gate representing the seal that kept it sealed inside the young baby. Then something started to change. The 'sky' has become gray and green and the 'floor' has begun to flood in a few months. Over the years, the situation has worsened to the present situation. The Kyuubi almost missed the white nothing.

' _ **It does not surprise me since the kit is spending his life in the most total solitude. I guess that three people can not fully fill his life.**_ ' the fox mentally groaned while cursing its wet fur ' _ **I only hope that the situation does not get worse...the last thing I need is that this place turns into a sewer...**_ '

Its thoughts were interrupted by a slight, almost imperceptible movement of water in front of the gate, albeit very far from it. The huge creature opened its eyes, curious about that change. There was nothing in Naruto's mindscape and the Kyuubi was the only occupant of the seal so the desire to know what had shaken the water was almost palpable.

After a few seconds the Kyuubi saw it.

There, a few miles away, the fox could distinctly see a black dot moving towards the gate.

' _ **It is not the kit, I would have felt his presence...**_ ' thought the Kyuubi arching an eyebrow while remaining silent, still looking at that black dot. Its muzzle did not change for several minutes until the dot became bigger and more visible. It raised the other eyebrow at seeing that thing coming closer. Strange to say but the Kyuubi seemed to see a black platform with a cross stuck on it.

' _ **What the hell...?**_ '

After a few seconds, its eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

Now that the foreign object was closer, the Kyuubi could see it clearly and actually there was a large silver cross but it was not a simple cross, but the mast of a small boat with black sails. The boat itself had the shape of a coffin and on its sides there were two large white candles whose flames were not yellow or orange, but green. On the inside of the boat there was a wooden block where the mast was set and, at the tip of that block, there was a man sitting with his right leg above the left hand and the hands closed on his knee. Behind him there was another cross and his large black hat was inclined forward, shadowing his face.

The fox continued to look at the stranger until his boat stopped by itself a few yards from the gate. Moments of silence followed its stop, until the man looked up and the Kyuubi could not suppress a shiver down its spine.

His gaze was a thousand times more penetrating than Madara's own, and even its father's eyes were not so threatening. His eyes were divided into two parts. Around the pupil were yellow as the sun, while around that part there was a yellow circle of a darker shade. The Kyuubi could not help but think to the eyes of a hawk...except that his were much colder and focused.

" **Who are you human?** " asked the Kyuubi after taking a look at his strange clothing, black hair and short beard with mustache.

The man, who probably was in his late forty, simply looked at the beast for several seconds before saying "Dracule Mihawk, also known as the Greatest Swordsman of the World."

" **Such a powerful title...** " mused the Kyuubi looking at him " **I'm the Kyuubi no Yoko, the strongest among the nine Bijuu.** "

Mihawk didn't even blink at that, looking at the iron bars of the gate "You're in a cage, a strange cage if I may. I've never seen something like this during my time."

The fox narrowed its eyes with annoyance before using one of its tails to point at the endless ocean " **Yes, this is actually a seal. We're inside the body of a young boy, in his mind to be precise. I've been sealed inside of him shortly after his birth.** " the Kyuubi then pointed at him using the same tail " **However this is the first time I see another entity in his mindscape and I have never heard of you in spite of your title.** "

"It must have been a long time since my death. Before my last moments, the Navy still ruled over the seas and only two of the four Yonko were still alive. I was one of the last three members of the Shichibukai." said Mihawk looking at the ocean.

" **Never heard of them...probably you be** **long to an era prior to the birth of my father, the** **Rikudō Sennin** **.** " hypothesized the Kyuubi, now more curious about his past life but before that, there was a simply question in its mind " **You're dead...so why are you here right now?** "

"Did you say we're inside a young boy?" asked Mihawk and the Kyuubi nodded.

" **This place is his mindscape, his mind if you want. It can change with his mentality and the emotions he experiences. Right now it's empty just like his life.** "

The swordsman looked again at the ocean with his face carved in the rock.

" **You don't seem very affected by my words.** "

"I've seen many things during my time. While a huge nine-tailed fox and this place may be somewhat new to me, I can clearly feel the solitude of this boy. I can almost see his empty eyes." explained Mihawk having seen many dead eyes during his travels by sea.

" **You have not answered my question.** " said the Kyuubi arching an eyebrow and this time the man looked back at the fox.

"Right now I can not feel my soul, not completely at least, but I perceive a fragment of it in this young boy. I think he's somehow related to me."

" **A descendant?** " the Kyuubi would not be surprised to find that Mihawk was an ancestor of Kushina, after all she was also a skilled swordswoman.

"No, I never had children so he does not have my blood, only a fragment of my soul." said Mihawk while thinking at a solution for his question.

" **Ah I get it...a reincarnation.** " mused the Kyuubi with a little grin " **I'm not new with this phenomenon.** **My father is the one who created me but he had two children who inherited almost all of his power, albeit a bit each. After their death, I saw with my eyes their return in the form of reincarnations.** " the fox then thought back at Indra and Asura and their first reincarnations, Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.

"Interesting. So this child is my reincarnation..." said Mihawk looking at the seal for a brief moment "Can I talk to him?"

The Kyuubi nodded " **Yes, but not now. The kit never came here and currently does not have the patience or the mentality to do so, that's why tonight when he gets to sleep I'll pull him in here.** "

"I see. In that case I'll simply wait." said Mihawk before lowering his head, falling asleep almost immediately with the arms crossed over his chest.

The Kyuubi could only sweatdrop at that ' _ **Is he really the**_ _ **great**_ _ **est swordsman of the world...?**_ '

* * *

[ _That evening_ **– Streets of Konoha** ]

Naruto had not had a good day. Hell, none of his days could be considered good. Every morning he got up from the bed hoping to have a better day than the previous one. Sometimes his prayers were heard but they were limited to a visit by the Hokage, which lasted two hours at most, or a free meal at the Ichiraku Ramen, although after a few hours his stomach was empty again.

In his mind, he was simply destined to pass a life of solitude without any kind of joy. He did not have a family or friends and all the villagers, whether they were ordinary civilians or ninja, ignored him completely. Obviously at first he had not paid too much attention to them, having remained in the orphanage for the first four years of his life. Everything had changed when the matron of the orphanage had thrown him out of the building and the Hokage had procured him an old apartment.

Fortunately he did not have to worry too much about money. The Hokage, whom he called Jiji, paid bills the for light, water, and gas, even though Naruto used them little, and every month the old man gave him a pocket money to buy something. Naruto appreciated it a lot but the money that would have been enough for one month would always end in one or two weeks due to the exorbitant prices that the shopkeepers forced him to pay. Many times they even sold to him expired food but he never complained about it, not verbally at least. It was enough for him the first time when a merchant had chased him with a wood bat threatening him to never approach his shop again.

On the front of friends the situation was even worse. No one wanted to play with him, or at least some children were tempted to play with him but their parents were always present and never allowed him to get close. The adults looked at him with hateful looks and murmured words behind him. Luckily he did not know the meaning of all those words but the effect was still the same.

He was alone.

Of course, there were people who treated him as a simple human being, but he could count the number on the fingers of a hand, without using them all. Besides, they could not always be present. The Hokage had to govern the village while Ayame and Teuchi had to look after their ramen stand.

With a loud sigh, he walked into his apartment ignoring the new graffiti on the door and went straight to the bedroom. Today he was more tired than normal. Having found no one to play with, he had decided to train a bit so that he could improve even during the spar matches at the academy.

The ninja academy, another sore button. Although it had only begun a few weeks ago, he had already figured out the situation. The teachers ignored him as everyone and his peers tried to avoid him as if he was a disease. The only moment he could hope for to have human contact of some sort was during those spar matches but he lost each time because their teacher always put him against the best in the class, Uchiha Sasuke, or against the children anxious to beat him so as to prove themselves superior such as, for example, that annoying child with the dog, Inuzuka Kiba.

With another sigh, he flopped down on his bed, slipping quickly into a light sleep, unaware that a certain fox was waiting for that moment to change forever his destiny.

* * *

[ **Naruto's Mindscape** ]

" **He's here.** " boomed a deep voice, waking him up suddenly.

Naruto panicked immediately after feeling the water around him but after a few seconds he calmed down, noticing he was sinking or drowning. However the panic returned even stronger as soon as he saw the huge fox with nine tails a few feet away from him, albeit with a gate between them.

"Now I can understand why I appeared here in addition to the presence of the fragment of my soul. Despite his terrified look I can see a burning flame in his eyes." said a male voice to his left and, upon turning in that direction, Naruto couldn't help but shiver after seeing the eyes of that man with a huge black sword similar to a cross on his back.

"W-who are...y-you...?" asked Naruto looking at the two of them with a scared face but while the man stood impassive, the giant fox grinned at him.

" **Oh I missed that look so much...you learn to appreciate little things only after having lost them for years.** " chuckled the Kyuubi before changing its voice in a more serious tone " **To answer your question kit, I am the Kyuubi no Yoko.** "

Naruto widened is eyes in utter shock "The K-Kyuubi...?! But...but Jiji said...!"

" **That the Kyuubi was killed by the Yondaime Hokage. Unfortunately for you, I am a being made entirely of chakra and therefore I can not be killed. Not by traditional methods at least. That night six years ago, I was released from my previous jail but then the Yondaime Hokage, by sacrificing his life, sealed me again in a newborn's body.** " the giant beast pointed at him with a tail " **You.** "

The young blond stared at the fox with an incredulous look and trembling lips "W-w-why?! Why did he use me?!"

" **It does not surprise me. He had been infected by his wife, my previous jail, whose clan put the family in front of everything. Probably the Yondaime thought that only his son could take on such a burden.** " said the Kyuubi with a calm voice as if talking about the weather before grinning at his stunned face.

"His...son...?"

" **Yes kit, you're the son of the Yondaime Hokage, the famous Namikaze Minato. That means that your mother, Uzumaki Kushina, was my previous jail, as well as wife of the Yondaime.** " explained the fox with the grin still visible. Meanwhile, Mihawk could not help but think to a young pirate with a straw hat whose whole family, both real and foster, was made up of very important people in the world of the past, both positively and negatively. Mostly negatively.

"B-but then why the villagers treat me like that?!" shouted Naruto with tears in his eyes "If I'm the son of a Hokage I should at least acknowledged!"

" **The reason is in front of you. All those fools believe that you are me when in fact I'm 'simply' inside you.** " said the fox using two tails for air quotes at the word 'simply' " **If they discovered the truth they would probably deny the evidence.** "

"But...but that's not fair!"

" **Welcome to the real world kit! Life is never fair, I am a more than clear evidence.** " chuckled the Kyuubi with its grin in full show " **But enough of me, there's someone who wants to talk to you.** " and one of its tail pointed at the swordsman who was silently looking at them. Naruto shivered again under the man's eyes, and to say that he was getting used to the presence of the Kyuubi.

"Hello young boy. I'm Dracule Mihawk, the one who was once known as the 'Greatest Swordsman of the World'." said the man without blinking and Naruto gulped at the sudden pressure in the air. Who the hell was this guy? He was much scarier than the Kyuubi.

"T-the greatest...?" repeated Naruto slowly understanding the meaning of those words.

"Yes, even though it's been a long time since my death and now that title is lost if what the Kyuubi told me is correct." said Mihawk since, during the waiting, the fox had told him some things about that world and the swordsman had remained, despite not showing it, surprised by the changes. Gone were the Navy, the World Government and the Revolutionary Army while the pirates, albeit still existing, had fallen in number and the Devil Fruits no longer existed. The last of them, according to the Kyuubi's memories, had been eaten by the Rikudō Sennin's mother even though the fox did not know if it was actually a so-called Devil Fruit. The only thing that had vaguely attracted his interest was the mention of a group of seven swordsmen called Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū, where each one of the seven swordsmen possessed a legendary sword. After hearing their story, Mihawk thought to the Shichibukai despite the fact that the two groups had a completely different structure and way of acting.

"You're dead...? Why are you here then?" asked Naruto now more calm despite the light pressure.

"Because you're my reincarnation. I don't know how this thing works but I can feel a fragment of my soul inside of you." explained Mihawk with his impassive face "If this is true then you're the one who will bring back to light the title of 'Greatest Swordsman of the World' and I'm here to make it happen."

"Really?!" now Naruto had an excited face with stars around his eyes "Do you mean that I'll become the greatest?!"

"Yes. The path in front of you will be far from easy and you will have to face numerous and strong opponents but remember, this is not the path of a ninja but a swordsman, a path carved into honor and mastery with your sword. Are you really willing to follow this path?"

Naruto closed his mouth looking at the water under him. The path of a swordsman wasn't the path of a ninja so perhaps he would be unable to become Hokage...but he could become the greatest. Someone stronger than the Hokage himself.

Straightening his back, Naruto looked at the swordsman straight in his eyes, trying to master as much security as possible "I'll do it. I'll become the greatest swordsman of the world and with that power I will protect the people I love."

"Are you sure? People will try to hurt you by killing your loved ones." said Mihawk without missing a beat.

"One more reason to become the greatest! If I become the greatest swordsman no one can hurt those I care about!" almost shouted Naruto before closing again his mouth, hoping not to have offended Mihawk.

' _What a strong heart...I haven't seen anyone like him for a long time._ ' thought Mihawk before asking "So that means that you're ready to die?"

Naruto widened his eyes in surprise while the Kyuubi merely arched an eyebrow.

"If you really want to become the greatest then you need to die first and I'll kill you with my own hands." said Mihawk narrowing a bit his eyes. Naruto began to tremble at the prospect of dying but after shaking hard his head, he nodded only once. The swordsman nodded in turn and, with only a fluid movement of his arm, drew his long black sword that sent a shiver long the spine of Naruto.

"You can choose. I can hit you on your chest or on your back."

"Will there be a scar?" asked Naruto without thinking and Mihawk nodded. After a moment, the young blond gulped "Once Jiji told me that the most famous swordsmen are the samurai and they fight face to face with their enemy. If I had a scar on my back it would mean that I ran away from the enemy and that's not what the strongest do!"

For the first time since is arrival, Mihawk grinned recalling the words of a young swordsman with green hair.

' _Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame..._ '

' _Admirable...just like him._ ' thought Mihawk still smirking before raising his sword toward the sky. Even the Kyuubi held its breath. The fox knew how reincarnations worked and this was certainly not the right way.

Without saying anything, Mihawk dropped a violent vertical slash until the blade was just an inch from the water. Behind Naruto, almost immediately, a long cut opened in the ocean for miles and miles, shaking the water like a storm but the blond wasn't even scratched by that blow, confusing him.

"You're my reincarnation and this is my sword, Yoru, which means that it's is your sword too. It never would hurt his master in this way." explained Mihawk before turning the blade in his hand into a reverse grip "Young boy, you have shown a strong heart but never throw away your life like this. There will always be a way to overcome the challenges you will face, you just have to find out how." after a couple of seconds, his face became even more serious.

"My name is Dracule Mihawk! Learn about yourself! Learn about the world! And become strong! No matter how many years it takes, I will hold this seat of the strongest and wait for you. Surpass this sword! Try to surpass me Uzumaki Naruto!" Mihawk then lowered the blade "Now, grab the hilt of Yoru and accept your new destiny."

Naruto silently watched the man in front of him and then the sword. Slowly but with determination he reached the hilt with one hand and then gripped it tightly. A moment later, a blinding purple light illuminated the entire ocean, forcing the fox to cover its eyes with a paw. The glow lasted only for a few seconds and, when the fox turned its eyes to the spot where the two humans were, raised both eyebrows, looking in slightly awe at the change.

Mihawk was nowhere to be seen and the same could be said for Yoru while Naruto was still there although now he was definitely different.

The young boy had undergone a growth spurt, growing by several inches and all the baby fat was now gone, replaced by light muscles over his body, obviously nothing exaggerated or vaguely impressive but it was still a step forward for him. His blonde hair was now completely pulled back and his sideburns were now longer and defined, pointing upward while his whiskers marks were clearly more visible. The last change, the most notable, were his yellow eyes now perfectly identical to those of Mihawk, including the cold chill that the fox could not suppress.

" **How are you feeling kit?** " asked the Kyuubi still looking impressed by the changes.

"I'm fine...in fact I never felt better." said Naruto with a calm voice while his face was almost the same of Mihawk, carved in the stone. He then looked at the surrounding ocean and asked "Kyuubi, this place is my mind right?"

" **Yes, why?** " asked back the fox now seeing a more smarter version of its young jail.

"I think it's time to change a bit the view." said Naruto before closing his eyes. The Kyuubi could only gape as the ocean split literally into two and an enormous island emerged in a few moments as the clouds of the sky became black and purple. The metal bars that represented the seal vanished into nothingness, and in a few minutes Naruto found himself in front of an ancient castle in the middle of the island. The building was surrounded by a huge forest and many ruins which, however, were not visible due to a dense violet fog. Although Naruto had never seen it in person, the image of Kuraigana Island was still vivid in his mind which now also housed the memories of Mihawk.

"Can I ask you something?" asked a new, calm female voice behind him and Naruto already knew who she was, thanks to the aura generated by the girl behind him.

"What Kyuubi?"

"I have to say this place is not bad at all. A bit lugubrious but at least it's better than an immense ocean. What I wanted to ask is...WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE?!" shouted the Kyuubi at top of her lungs.

Naruto turned on his heels just to see a young woman in her early twenties with red hair styled in long curls and the eyes of the same color which were focused on his form. The now human Kyuubi was wearing a long black gothic lolita dress with red boots, a large black hat and a red umbrella with two little horns and two eyes that were drawn on it. The particular thing was a patched fox-shaped plush that she was holding with her right arm and on its belly there was the seal of the Shinigami.

Naruto looked at her for a full minute before saying "Clothes."

"I can see that! What I want to know is...WHY THESE CLOTHES?!" shouted the Kyuubi throwing away the umbrella "Why an umbrella?! It's not even raining!"

"U-ghyo?"

The Kyuubi went immediately silent after hearing that strange sound behind her and turning very slowly, she saw a pack of huge mandrills which where looking at her and one of them was holding her umbrella just like her before throwing it away in the same way.

"W-what the hell are those monkeys...?"

"Humandrills." was the quick answer and Naruto showed a little smile "They were the only inhabitants of this island with Mihawk and Perona, the girl who wore that kind of dress."

"Mh...so what, are you trying to recreate his home?" asked Kyuubi looking at the Humandrills which were shouting something while swaying in the air their weapons.

"More or less." admitted Naruto looking at the building while thinking back at when he was Dracule Mihawk, one of the Shichibukai and the Greatest Swordsman of the World.

The Kyuubi looked down at her ample chest that was put in full show thanks to the dress and a small toothy smirk found its way on her lips "Oh are you sure that these were her clothes and not one of your dirty fantasies?"

Naruto looked at her, noting that she was leaning forward just to show her bosom, and said "Yes." without missing a beat.

The former fox looked at him for a second with a deadpanned face ' _I already miss his old personality..._ '

"By the way Kyuubi, how should I call you?" asked then Naruto surprising her "Kyuubi sounds like a title or something like that."

"That's right, 'Kyuubi no Yoko' is just a mere title but my real name is sacred to me. I can't simply say it to you like this." explained the woman walking toward the castle.

"I see. Then you can call me 'The Future Greatest Swordsman of the World' when you're addressing me." said Naruto freezing her on the spot.

"And why should I do that kit?" asked the Kyuubi whit narrowed eyes.

"A title for a title. You already know my name so..." answered the reincarnation of Mihawk with his calm face.

The woman glared at him before sighing "Kurama. My name's Kurama." and she walked away toward the castle.

"Kurama...I'll remember it." nodded Naruto before materializing a katana in his right hand as the Humandrills where approaching him "Now, I think it's time to remove the rust from the sword." and with a little grin he charged against the beasts which mimicked him at the same moment.

* * *

[ _The next day –_ **Hokage's Office** ]

Hiruzen cursed under his breath looking at the mountain of papers to sign on his desk. Why did he, the Sandaime Hokage, the student of the first two Hokage, the Professor, the God of Shinobi, have to spend most of his day locked in his office to sign unnecessary papers?

' _New shopping center? Repairs for the kennel? A bigger spa center?_ ' Hiruzen read quickly before ripping apart those papers ' _These are no problems for a hidden village...I feel almost inclined to hope for a new war so that the routine changes a bit..._ ' after a couple of seconds he sighed while rubbing his eyes ' _By Kami, for a moment I_ _sounded_ _like Danzo._ _I really need a break from this curse._ '

"Hokage-sama, there's one Uzumaki Naruto here for you...should I send him in?" asked his secretary through the intercom on his desk and Hiruzen could almost touch the nervousness in her voice.

' _Naruto-kun is here? He should be at the academy..._ ' thought Hiruzen before pressing a button "Yes, send him in. I'll talk with him immediately."

After a couple of minutes, someone knocked at the door an after a firm "Enter." the door went open and the Sandaime had to suppress the strong desire to shiver after seeing who was at the doorstep.

"Hokage-sama." said Naruto with a bow before entering in the office with a calm pace.

The Sandaime could only gape at this. Naruto always called him 'Jiji' and had never shown such a fairness in the way of walking and referring to someone. Obviously the innumerable changes of his body had been noticed but only his eyes had really caught the attention of the old man who thought almost immediately at the eyes of a hawk.

"Naruto-kun...?" asked Hiruzen while he could feel the confusion in his hidden ANBU who were looking at the young kid now sitting in front of their leader.

"Yes." nodded the blond "I came here to discuss something important. I hope not to interrupt your work."

Hiruzen spared a side glance to the mountain of paperwork.

"Of course not Naruto-kun!" he quickly said with a smile before turning serious again "But I'd like to ask...what happened to you and your eyes more specifically?"

"My changes fall into what I wanted to talk to you, but for this information I have to receive something in return. An exchange of information if you want." explained Naruto still remaining calm while Hiruzen narrowed his eyes.

' _His voice is the same but then again his whole body is different and he is much calmer than usual. I can feel his chakra and that shouldn't be possible, they haven't reached that point yet at the academy..._ ' thought Hiruzen before asking "What kind of information would you like to receive?"

"Actually I have already inferred that information but I would like to have a confirmation on why I was never told that I am the son of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage, and Uzumaki Kushina, the previous Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi." said Naruto with his calm voice freezing Hiruzen and the ANBU.

"H-how...?"

"The Kyuubi." was the quick response "I met the fox last night in my mindscape where it explained some things to me, and this morning it also helped me to unlock my chakra."

Hiruzen stared at him in silence for several seconds before moving his hand in a silent signal. Soon after, the hidden ANBU left the room and Hiruzen used activated several seals in the office to have some privacy with the young blond.

"Okay Naruto, I'll explain everything now but please you've to understand that I did not do what I did for pleasure." said Hiruzen and Naruto simply nodded, allowing him to continue "As you already know, those two famous ninja were your parents. If they were just two simple ninja died during the Kyuubi attack, I would not have hesitate a second to tell you who they were but unfortunately their fame was at the same level with their infamy in other villages, especially your father's with Iwa. As you probably already know, the village treats you horribly because of the fox sealed inside you and for this reason there are not many ninja willing to protect you in the event of an attack. If I had announced who your parents were, perhaps more ninja would have been willing to protect you but I would also have drawn a huge target on your back and in the world we live in, there are really few people who would stop in front of a child. Iwa and Kumo, and maybe even Kiri, would not have hesitate to send assassins to kill you."

"I can understand Iwa due to my father's infamous name during the Third Shinobi World War and the Kyuubi told me that Kumo tried to kidnap my mother...but what about Kiri?" asked Naruto raising an eyebrow when Hiruzen smiled nervously at him.

"During her first year as a jonin she practically humiliated the generation of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū of those years. Some of their members have survived and their successors still have a certain desire for revenge against her."

' _So my mother was also a skilled swordswoman...interesting._ '

' _ **Yes, you can say that. She was for the most a heavy hitter with her chains and jutsu but she was also a deadly swordswoman.**_ ' said Kurama in his mind while flying over the castle. Naruto had given her the ability to fly just like Perona and the fox really appreciated that little gift, it was really fun!

"There, I explained everything and I still hope that you'll forgive my foolish actions regarding you." said Hiruzen looking at the young boy with an anxious look.

"No need to worry Hokage-sama, I can understand you reasons even if I had to live alone during these years..." said Naruto with his calm voice without any emotion on his face. Immediately afterwards he began to explain what had happened that night, telling him about Mihawk, their merging and his new goal. In the end, Hiruzen was gaping at him with wide open eyes.

"That's...that's a lot to digest. If it was not for your appearance and for your new knowledge I would come to think of an excessive use of alcohol or drugs..." deadpanned Hiruzen still looking at the young blond who merely shrugged.

"I may have a desire for a good red wine right now but you can be sure that I will not take drugs." said Naruto without blinking. The merging with Mihawk had awakened in him new desires and now he was much more inclined to make a nap than to think of a new prank.

"I see...well I must ask, what are you going to do now?" asked Hiruzen with concern in his voice.

"I'll remain in the shadow for several years while training my body and mind to become the Greatest Swordsman in the World, however I'd like to have the access to the bank account of my parents. I need some money for a project." explained Naruto.

"Oh? What kind of project?" asked Hiruzen who was now unnerved by the little grin on the face of his surrogate grandson.

"A sword." was the simple answer and in that moment Hiruzen could not know, but that sword would have become the first milestone on the path that Naruto had undertaken.

The path of the Greatest.

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **End of the first chapter!**

 **So, how was it? Good? Bad? Meh? Let me know!**

 **This story is a challenge of The Sith'ari and on his profile you can find A LOT of challenges!**

 **As you can see, Naruto and Mihawk have merged and now our favorite blond is on his way to become the Greatest Swordsman of the World! I do not know if I will insert other elements from One Piece but you will see it in time.**

 **That's all for now!**

 **Have a good morning/afternoon/evening/night!**


	2. Six Years

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor One Piece.**

"Talking"

' _Thinking_ '

" **Demon talking** "

' _ **Demon thinking**_ '

[ _Time_ – **Place** ]

* * *

 **THE LEGACY OF THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN**

 **§ § § § §**

 **Chapter 2: Six Years**

 **§ § § § §**

* * *

[ **Naruto's Apartment** ]

Though the sun had risen recently, Naruto got out the bed with a calm pace heading toward the bathroom where he had a short cold shower to wake up completely his body. After drying up and putting on clean clothes, he went to the kitchen and took an apple, then began eating it sitting on the couch while reading a textbook from the academy. The previous day, during his meeting with the Hokage, had come out that Naruto's textbooks were outdated. After sending some ANBU to retrieve the teachers from the academy, the Hokage had provided to him the correct textbooks for all the following six years at the academy as a sign of good faith.

' _ **So...what are you going to do tod**_ _ **a**_ _ **y?**_ ' asked Kurama after a loud yawn since she wasn't exactly a morning person.

' _Training of course. I'm weak now, too weak. In my current situation the idea of becoming the Greatest Swordsman in the World would make anyone laugh._ ' answered Naruto flipping a page.

And it was true. He was ridiculously weak. Yes, he had a much higher stamina than his peers and had unlocked his chakra before them. Not to mention that Kurama was inside him and so Naruto had access to even more chakra. After merging with Mihawk, he had obtained a more calm and concentrated mind and as the fox said, he had also become much smarter. Even though she had said it with a voice that made him think of a veiled insult. The last benefits of the merging were Mihawk's eyes and memories.

His eyes were a big advantage. Without even concentrating too much, Naruto could see distant things with incredible precision and could even track the quicker ninja with those eyes, such as the ANBU or a weird guy dressed in green who screamed 'Youth!' all the time. Naruto could also guess the direction they took when they used the Shunshin no Jutsu but then he lost them completely.

Mihawk's memories, on the other hand, were just that: memories. Naruto could easily remember all the styles of the people that Mihawk had faced, succeeding in reproducing the katas, but the advantage ended there. Different weapons and bodies were an almost insurmountable obstacle and his current body was not at all ready for those moves. It could also be seen from his defeats against the Humandrills in his mind. After the merging, he had tried to face them using only his current capabilities.

Needless to say that they had defeated him in a few seconds.

Naruto was able to follow their movements, especially those of enemies who used swords, but his body could not react to their movements. After all he had imagined them relying on Mihawk's memories and so they were all very skillful with their weapons. At least he had a good way to train in his mind while he slept.

In his mindscape, Kurama shrugged and went back to sleep, leaving him with his book. Naruto continued to read for a few hours until the sun was high in the sky. Quietly closing the book, he left the apartment and headed for the district for ninja shops. Since he was definitely weak and unprepared physically, he had to start a training regime from scratch.

Walking in the street, Naruto completely ignored the gaze and whisper of the people who seemed even more restless than usual, probably because of his eyes. Hiruzen had told him to resort to the excuse of an awakened Dōjutsu and that they were still trying to understand its effects. Obviously, they already knew what those eyes were capable of, but it was better not to divulge that information.

Reaching at last his destination, the young boy entered the designated shop, playing the bell above the door. His eyes darted in all directions, watching carefully the shelves full of equipment, various medicines, and especially weapons. As a weapons store it was not the vanguard but it was the best of the village for its wide choice of items, something Naruto really needed.

"Welcome, how can I help you?" asked a man with short brown hair entering the room from a door positioned behind the counter. Judging by the crumpled clothes and sweat on the skin, he had just finished doing something in the warehouse, however, when the man glanced up at Naruto, he seemed to lose all the color from his face.

"Good morning, I would like training weights for ankles and wrists, possibly with weight seals on them, then books on Fūinjutsu, Taijutsu, survival and medicine." said Naruto walking toward the counter where the man was still looking at him.

Hearing his request, the shopkeeper seemed to regain a bit of calm and said "Err...I can give you simple training weights but for those with the seals on them, I can only sell them to the ninja. The same goes for the medicine, Taijutsu and Fūinjutsu books."

Naruto nodded, having already thought of such a thing, but it was worth trying.

' _It looks like I'll have to go to my parents' house in the end._ ' thought Naruto before saying "All right, then I'll just take the weights and the survival book."

The man nodded before taking the required items and putting them on the counter "The price is five thousand yen." said the man putting the book and the weights in a bag.

Naruto took the bag before noticing a pile of paper sheets placed near the bell on the counter. Pointing at it, he asked "What are those?"

"Mh? Oh that is chakra paper. It is used to determine the chakra affinity of a ninja. The genin usually used it after finishing the academy but now most of them use it only after becoming chūnin." explained the man before picking up a piece of paper. After a few moments, the sheet of paper crumbled and all the fragments burned at midair, becoming ashes "As you can see, I've a Katon and Doton affinity. A Raiton affinity would make it wrinkle, a Fūton affinity would split it in two while a Suiton affinity would make it wet."

"Interesting. Can I use it?" asked Naruto as the man looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"Aren't you too young for it? Have you already unlocked your chakra?"

"Yes, I've unlocked it last night so I can use it." said Naruto before picking up a sheet of paper and channel some chakra in it. Much to the man's surprise, the paper divided into two parts and while the right part burned to ashes, the left wrinkled in a matter of seconds. Naruto looked at it with an amused grin "So...Katon, Raiton and Fūton huh?"

' _ **I guess you've got the Katon affinity because of me. Your father**_ _ **had both Raiton and**_ _ **Fūton**_ _ **affinities. Your mother was a Suiton and**_ _ **Fūton**_ _ **user but I guess that the water is not in your new style.**_ ' said Kurama with a little grin while looking at the wrinkled paper.

"Well I'll be damned kid...you've got three affinities. Not even all the jonin can boast of this achievement." said the man with wide open eyes "Are you really a simple kid?"

"Oh you can be damn sure that I'm not a simple kid." said Naruto with the grin still on his face before leaving the shop, walking toward is apartment. It was time to start the new training.

* * *

[ _Six hours_ _later_ – **Konoha's South Gate** ]

A Naruto covered in sweat was trying to catch his breath leaning against the walls of the village. His t-shirt was on the ground near the weights and was completely soaked with sweat just like his sweatpants. The boy slid to the ground where he continued to breathe hardly while an amused giggle was heard in his mind.

' _ **Well, I must admit it. I would never have expected to see you in this state.**_ ' said Kurama ' _ **Maybe you should take a break from time to time.**_ '

Naruto nodded without worrying too much ' _I was going to stop in any case, now it's lunch time._ ' and after wearing his shirt again, he walked to his apartment for another shower. Half an hour later, the young boy was sitting on a stool in front of a steaming bowl of shrimp ramen and, while clapping his hands for a moment, he murmured a quick "Itadakimasu." and took a couple of chopsticks. After splitting them, he began to eat his meal making the least noise possible and with a stable and controlled speed. Unfortunately, despite the excellence of the food, he could not shake off the feeling of being watched by someone. Someone very close.

Swallowing the noodles in his mouth, Naruto sighed softly "Can I help you with something Ayame?"

Directly on the other side of the counter, the waitress kept looking at him for a few seconds and then asked "Who are you and what have you done to Naruto...?"

"I'm Naruto." was the answer with an amused smile "I may be different but I'm the one and only Naruto."

Ayame frowned slightly "When is your, or even better, Naruto's birthday?"

"On October 10th, and each time you prepare a special ramen bowl with rare and high quality ingredients." said Naruto before eating some noodles with his eyes closed.

"What is his favorite ramen?" asked then the waitress while her father was looking from the kitchen.

"It was miso ramen but now I'm favoring sea tastes." said the boy with a nod. Luckily his love for ramen had not vanished after the merging even though his tastes were now slightly different.

' _ **I still can not understand how you can enjoy that food**_ _ **...**_ '

' _The greatest swordsman deserves only the greatest food._ ' replied Naruto with a smirk before focusing back on Ayame who asked about Naruto's favorite color.

"It's the orange although now I feel pushed to prefer darker clothes." answered the young boy before drinking what was left in the bowl.

Ayame looked at him before sighing "What happened to you Naruto? Your body his different, especially your eyes, and now you're much more calm and polite."

"Sorry Ayame but this is an S-ranked secret. Only the Hokage knows the truth but I can tell you that nothing bad has happened to me. If anything, the opposite." said Naruto with a little smile before pointing at the empty bowl "Can I have another shrimp ramen please?"

She observed him a few seconds before sighing with a smile "Coming up Naruto." and with that she walked back in the kitchen where her father was already working on the order.

* * *

[ _Thirty minutes later_ ]

After another ten ramen bowls, Naruto walked toward the training grounds in order to continue his training. His schedule included basically running in the morning while in the afternoon several physical exercises were listed to improve his body. The young boy had already taken into account to learn the basics of Fūinjutsu so that he could prepare gravity seals and sealing scrolls by himself in order to raise the level of his training, but there was time for that.

Thinking of the various materials to be procured, Naruto did not notice that he arrived at the training grounds until he heard rhythmic strikes against a wooden surface. Turning his gaze into that direction, he saw a young boy, maybe a year older than him, hitting a wooden dummy with the basic academic Taijutsu style. His long black hair was fastened in a braid and swung at every movement while the boy shouted a loud "AH!" with every punch and kick.

Naruto remained silent for several seconds before asking "Though it's a basic style, you're not making any mistakes. Did you train a lot with it?"

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin but, upon seeing Naruto, quickly regained his composure with a bow "Ah forgive me! I didn't hear your steps!"

"Don't worry about it. I should be the one to apologize for interrupting your training." said Naruto with a bow before asking again his question with the arms crossed over his chest.

The black haired boy nodded before looking back at the training dummy "Taijutsu is the only thing where I can really give the best of myself..."

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto now curious about his words.

"I'm in the second year of the ninja academy. At the end of the first year I was in the middle of the class rankings as it was only studying some stuff and being at least decent with Taijutsu." the boy then clenched his fists "But now we've unlocked our chakra and apparently I do not have chakra...or at least I possess only the strictly necessary to survive. In theory when someone has so little chakra, he or she should be good with medical jutsu and Genjutsu but I can not even perform a simple E-rank jutsu." he looked back at Naruto with the eyes burning with determination "That's why I'll become the best at Taijutsu! I'll even win against Neji Hyuuga, the prodigy of my class, and in so doing I'll show that even those like me can become brave and strong ninja."

A deep silence fell on the clearing as Naruto gazed impassively at the boy in front of him. After a few seconds Naruto lowered his head, shadowing the face, and his entire body began to shake slightly until the black haired boy heard a slight chuckle...which then became a huge laugh.

"Wahahahahahah!" Naruto arched his neck back still laughing with his eyes now closed. When the black haired boy was about to tell him to stop, definitely offended by his laugh, Naruto looked back at him with a serious gaze but also a slight smile on his lips "So you want to become a ninja betting everything on Taijutsu? It would seem I have found someone truly filled with ambition. Well, let me tell you a thing. If you want to be recognized for this achievement then you must become..." Naruto pointed at him "...the greatest!"

"The...greatest...?"

Naruto nodded "I'll become the Greatest Swordsman in World, that's my goal."

The older kid looked at him with surprised eyes since there was someone younger than himself with such a goal.

"I don't know how much it will take but I'll definitely become the greatest among the swordsmen." continued Naruto with sharp eyes "No matter the challenges that will try to stop me, I'll overcome all of them to reach my goal, but even someone who's aiming at the top can't walk this path alone." in his mind appeared some images of a pink haired girl surrounded by ghosts, a red haired man with only one arm and a green haired boy with three katana "So, as the future greatest swordsman, I'd like to see you become the best Taijutsu specialist and be able to call you 'friend'."

Naruto extended his right arm with the hand open "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, future 'Greatest Swordsman in the World'."

The black haired boy looked at him in pure awe before shifting his gaze to the extended hand as the fire in his eyes shone even more. With a firm move, he shook Naruto's hand.

"My name is Rock Lee, future 'Greatest Taijutsu Specialist in the World'!"

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Rock Lee." said Naruto with a smile before looking at the training dummy "Tell me...you only know the basic academy style, right?" Rock Lee nodded with a confused face which then morphed in an unnerved one at the sight of his grin.

"Tell me then...have you ever heard of the 'Black Leg Style'?"

* * *

[ _One year later_ – **Hokage's Office** ]

Hiruzen massaged his temples trying to ignore the seven years old boy sitting in front of him. Glancing slightly, he could not help but frown at the sight of all the sheets of paper on his desk.

"Naruto-kun..." he started after a deep breath "Do you know what these papers are?"

The young boy looked at said papers and nodded "Paperwork."

"That's correct and, to be more precise, it's paperwork related to the ninja academy. Now...do you know how the academy works?"

"No Hokage-sama, I have never been interested in anything like that." said Naruto with a calm face but, if you watched carefully, you could see the edges of his mouth bend slightly upward.

"Well let me explain a simple rule. Whenever a student does not attend a lesson without a justification, the teachers send a warning note to the family or the orphanage or, in some cases, to me. In addition, they send a warning note for each day of absence." said Hiruzen now with a twitching eyebrow as the hidden ANBU were trying to hold their chuckles. The old Hokage then took a small group of papers "Of all the students in the academy, over the last year, a total of eighty-one warning notes were sent." he then pointed at the remaining mountain of papers "However...all the warning notes that remain are with your name written on them. Do you know what it means?"

"I think I may know, Hokage-sama." said Naruto now with twitching lips as the ANBU were openly chuckling.

A vein popped out of Hiruzen's forehead as he slammed a fist on the desk "IT MEANS THAT YOU SKIPPED TWO HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN DAYS OF THE EXPECTED TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY DAYS OF THE ACADEMIC CALENDAR AND YOU'VE ALREADY SKIPPED THE FIRST THREE WEEKS OF THE SECOND YEAR!" he then threw the hands over his head "You went to the academy only for the first three weeks, except to return at the last day of school for the final test!"

"I got the best score." nodded Naruto with an amused smile.

"That's not the point here! The instructors have asked me to remove you from the academy for your poor attendance and even the council is starting to raise the voice for this behavior!" explained Hiruzen with the face red before stopping to regain his breath.

Naruto looked at him with no concern at all "I'm sorry to be the cause of so many problems but at moment the academy is completely useless for me."

"What do you mean?" asked Hiruzen now much more calm than before.

"I've already read and learned all the books you gave me a year ago. Besides to a lot of history and basic concepts they did not have much to teach because I have a being older than this village sealed inside me. In addition, I have a schedule to follow." explained Naruto with a grin while Hiruzen sighed at his words.

' _Right, his training schedule..._ '

A year earlier, after his first meeting with Rock Lee, Naruto had prepared a training schedule and showed it to the Hokage. Practically, since he still had six years left before the academy's end, Naruto had divided the training regime into six phases, and each phase had duration of one year.. During the first year, he had focused only on his body, his survival skills and his Taijutsu, which was still devoid of a certain style. The results were visible since now, physically talking, he was definitely stronger than the other students in the academy, at least for those of his own generation.

Now, during the second year, Naruto had started practicing what he needed to achieve his goal.

Kenjutsu.

For the past three weeks he was training with a simple bokken even though he had not yet decided the style to learn. Obviously Naruto could learn different styles thanks to Mihawk's memories, but Naruto simply did not know what style learn first. Unlike Mihawk, who had become the greatest using only one Kenjutsu style, Naruto wanted to become the greatest but not limited to one style and also for this he was training with a bokken, which was completely different from Yoru. This decision was also dictated by his body. Although he was definitely physically strong, Naruto was not ready for such weapons yet, so he had to start from a simple katana just as Mihawk did before getting Yoru.

Hiruzen sighed again "Well...since you've already learned everything on those books can I guess that you can perform the 'basic three' of the academy?"

"I know the theory behind them and I've managed to successfully perform the Henge no Jutsu and the Kawarimi no Jutsu, but the Bunshin no Jutsu gives me many problems. The Kyuubi says that is because of all the chakra I have due to the fox itself and my Uzumaki genes." explained Naruto with a calm voice as the old man nodded.

"Ah yes...your mother had the same problem. Well I've the solution for your problem but it isn't necessary right now. I'll teach you a special jutsu created by the Nidaime Hokage that will help you." said Hiruzen with a smile before adding "I would suggest you to withdraw from the academy for the next five years. When the time comes you will present for the final exam under my recommendation so we will solve a lot of problems."

He seemed to think about it for a few seconds and eventually nodded "I've no problem with that. By doing so I will be able to train without any problems." he then got up from the chair and, after a short bow, left the office.

Walking quietly through the streets of the village, the young man reached the training grounds in no time. Early in the morning, Rock Lee was still at the academy and therefore he couldn't train with him, but Naruto's ears caught the sound of someone else training not too far from there. Walking in that direction, he came into a different training ground, full of dummies but also sandbags hanging from trees, and dozens and dozens of cuts could be seen on the trunks of those trees.

A sudden movement caught Naruto's attention and the boy had just the time to see a flash as three deep cuts appeared on a training dummy. Slowly, Naruto shifted his gaze toward the man behind the dummy as he sheathed his sword on his back. It was a young man, probably in his late teens, with light brown hair mostly covered by a blue bandana and, judging by the color of his jacket, he was a jonin.

"Very impressive." said Naruto catching the attention of the young man "Your attack is incredibly fast and you can even attack three times in a matter of a second."

The jonin raised an eyebrow before asking "What are you doing here kid? Shouldn't you be at the academy?"

"Let's say I found a compromise with the Hokage." said Naruto with a little smirk "You are Hayate Gekkō, right?"

"Yes, how do you know?" asked the now named Hayate as he walked toward the boy who simply shrugged.

"I asked the Hokage if there were swordsmen in this village and although I know that the swords are not very used in this place, I was very disappointed to find out that there is only a master swordsman here." said Naruto with an annoyed face "While some jonin and ANBU use a sword or a tantō, I can not consider them real swordsmen like you are. The same goes for your student, Yūgao Uzuki."

Hayate raised both eyebrows "You've done your research. Unfortunately, if you want to find more swordsmen you must go to Kiri or Kumo. In those villages, Kenjutsu is an integral part of their basic training, but I can not help but ask why you are so interested with this art." though, seeing the bokken at his left side, the jonin had a half-idea.

"Simple, I want to become a swordsman. I already have a basic knowledge about Kenjutsu but hitting mere training dummies will make me improve only to a certain extent, therefore I would like your help in that regard." explained Naruto with a calm and serious face, surprising Hayate who, after a couple of seconds, chuckled.

Kneeling in front of Naruto, the older boy put a hand on his head "I'm really happy that someone else is interested in this art but I think you're still too young to learn. Maybe in a couple of years you will..."

In a fraction of a second, the tip of the bokken grazed his forehead, hitting the metal plate of his forehead protector and thus sending the bandana in the air. Hayate remained completely motionless, looking with a stunned expression the kid in front of him, who, faster than expected from such a young boy, had practically struck him with a bokken.

Naruto remained silent for a few seconds and then asked "Do you still think I'm too young?"

In response, Hayate turned slowly to look at his bandana several meters away, then returned to look at the blonde "Ok...maybe you really have the basics to learn..."

"Glad to know that we understand each other." said Naruto with a little smirk before asking "I know that it may sound presumptuous but do you think I could learn your style?"

"The Konoha-Ryū?"

"So that's its name." mused Naruto looking at the training dummy "You managed to it the dummy three times in a blink, so can I guess that is a style based on speed?"

Hayate looked impressed at the younger boy and nodded "That was the Mikazuki no Mai, one of the many attacks of the Konoha-Ryū. Its strength lies in the use of two Kage Bunshin that attack along with the original."

"Kage Bunshin?" repeated Naruto tilting the head to the side.

"Yes, it's a special version of the Bunshin no Jutsu created by the Nidaime Hokage. Basically, the Kage Bunshin are not simple illusions but physical copies of the original, except that just a blow is necessary to make them explode in clouds of smoke." explained Hayate while tying the bandana on his head "A big risk for those using this technique is to use all their chakra, since when you use the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, you divide your chakra into equal parts."

' _Hm...maybe this is the jutsu that the Hokage wanted to show me._ ' thought Naruto while nodding at the jonin while Kurama chuckled in his mindscape.

' _ **Oh yeah, both of your parents knew this jutsu and used it to the best. Even in the bedroom uhuhuh...**_ '

Naruto mentally rolled his eyes. He wasn't interested in that kind of things. For now at least.

"That sounds like a jutsu I can learn without problems." seeing the confused look of Hayate, Naruto added "I'm Naruto Uzumaki."

Realization struck the jonin in the face like a chakra empowered fist of the legendary slug Sannin Senju Tsunade "Oh...I did not recognize you. Last time I saw you...you were...well...different."

"You can say that." nodded Naruto before returning on the previous topic "As I was saying, I could learn that jutsu with no problems thanks to my huge reserves of chakra."

"That may be true but since the Konoha-Ryū isn't based only on those type of attacks, we should start with the basic katas." said Hayate who, apparently, had already begun to act as a teacher with his new student "Now I'll show you the first ones, then you'll have to repeat them until you can do all of them perfectly."

Naruto nodded and, after following Hayate in the middle of the training ground, looked at his new teacher while he moved slowly with the katana in held in his hands. After seeing all the katas, Naruto came to the conclusion that the Konoha-Ryū was not meant simply to fight or weaken but was designed to kill with precise and lethal blows. All the katas were aimed at vital points like neck, liver, heart and so on, and the fact that Hayate could reproduce all the katas without the use of a training dummy indicated that he was accustomed to its use.

Contrary to how many people imagined, replicating the katas of a Bukijutsu or Taijutsu style did not only serve to memorize them but was intended to help the students to imagine a possible opponent and for this purpose training dummies were used so that the strikes could be aimed at the vital spots of the dummy. Only after mastering the style, the students could then pass on the repetition of the katas against the shadows, imaginary opponents created by their minds. Most masters then lost the habit of using training dummies, using them only as targets for the techniques of their styles but not for the revision of the katas.

"That was the last one. Did you memorize them all?" asked Hayate looking at the blond who nodded "Good, now try to repeat them and don't worry if you can't repeat them all. It could take some days for someone young as you."

' _Some days huh?_ ' thought Naruto before taking out is bokken.

' _ **I bet that you can't repeat them perfectly before two hours.**_ ' mocked Kurama whit a grin which was soon copied by Naruto.

' _Challenge accepted._ '

* * *

[ _Two hours_ _later_ – **Konoha's Training Grounds** ]

A young girl with long purple hair could be seen jumping from branch to branch passing by the various training grounds while looking for someone. Her warm brown eyes scanned every single point in search of her sensei and not-so-secret lover, although their relationship had remained secret for a while, until her friend Anko had come to know about it.

Sighing, the young girl shook her head ' _Let's see...Hayate-kun said that today we'd use the training ground number fifteen._ '

Reaching at last her destination, she landed in the middle of the clearing and immediately noticed Hayate with his shoulders facing her. Walking towards him, the girl caught sight of a child intent to reproduce the basic katas of Konoha-Ryū a little far from Hayate.

Raising an eyebrow, she pointed to the child "Hayate-kun...who's he and why is he practicing the katas of the Konoha-Ryū?"

Receiving no answer, she turned to her lover and raised the other eyebrow at seeing that he had his eyes wide open and was speechless.

"Hayate-kun...?" asked the girl snapping her finger in front of his face as he finally turned to her.

"O-oh hi Yūgao-chan...I didn't hear you..." mumbled the boy while scratching his neck.

"I noticed. Now, care to update me on that kid?" Yūgao asked again while pointing at the blond who was still practicing with the katas.

"He's Naruto Uzumaki...and from today he's my new student. Apparently he wants to learn Kenjutsu...but I could almost learn from him instead." explained Hayate looking back at his student while Yūgao looked at him with wide eyes.

"Shouldn't he be at the academy now?" asked her since she knew about his status and the fact that he was enrolled at the academy to become a ninja, but then her mind focused on his last words "Learn from him? He's only a kid..."

"He has learned all the basic katas of the Konoha-Ryū in one hour...as you can see he has already started practicing them against a shadow..." explained Hayate and Yūgao's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

"What?! One hour?! All the basic katas?! It took me two days to learn all of them!" shouted the purple haired girl while glancing at the kid who was now looking at them with a little grin.

"I know but that's what happened. He must be some kind of prodigy, just like Uchiha Itachi." Hayate assumed, still stunned by the incredible ability of Naruto. By now, the young boy was already in front of them and, after a short bow toward Yūgao, he said "Good morning to you Yūgao-senpai. I hope I do not bother you now that I will train here with you."

' _Yūgao_ _-senpai...?_ ' she repeated it in her mind just to hear its sound and she really liked it. Despite the kid's eyes, which had caused her a shiver along the back, she smiled at him while nodding "Don't worry Naruto-kun, you are not bothering me. It will be fun to have someone else to train with besides Hayate-kun. If you ever need to spar with someone, feel free to ask to me."

In that moment, Naruto's grin widened though only slightly, but Yūgao could not hold back another shudder.

"I'll remember this kind offer of yours, Yūgao-senpai." said Naruto before walking toward a training dummy, leaving behind the other two, while Yūgao couldn't help but think ' _Why do I feel that I just dug my own grave...?_ '

* * *

[ _One year later_ – **Hokage's Office** ]

"So there is no chance for a possible reconsideration..." said the Hokage with a tired face looking at the young ANBU kneeling in front of him.

"I'm afraid not. My father is determined and nothing can make him change his mind, not even me." confirmed the black haired boy with an ANBU weasel mask over his face.

The old leader could only sigh before nodding toward the big window behind him "I love Konoha. I'm the Hokage and I'd do anything to protect my village...but sometimes even I have to operate in the shadows." he looked back at the ANBU who was still looking at the floor "ANBU Uchiha Itachi, codename Weasel." the young ninja stiffened his body, ready to receive his new orders. His last orders.

"I'm assigning your last mission as an ANBU of Konoha. Your mission is to completely eliminate the Uchiha clan, then you will have to leave this village as a missing nin and you will be insert in the bingo book." said Hiruzen with a heavy heart while the ANBU remained motionless.

"I understand, Hokage-sama." said the ANBU without looking at him "Can I ask for a favor, if possible?"

"What do you need?"

"Can I spare Sasuke? He is not aware of the coup."

Hiruzen took a drag from his pipe and then released several smoke circles in the air. After several seconds, he looked at the young ANBU "Very well, you can save your brother. I'll make sure that he doesn't find out the truth about this mission."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." Itachi looked at his leader and bowed one last time before shunshining away without a sound.

Now alone in his office, Hiruzen looked at the pictures of his predecessors ' _Hashirama-sama, Tobirama-sama...how I wish you were still here to show me the right path..._ '

* * *

[ _Three hours_ _later_ – **Konoha's Training Grounds** ]

Itachi was sitting on a rock as he watched the full moon rise in the night sky. In a few minutes, his clan would meet its end by his own hands. Well, not just his own because he had been able to get the collaboration of another Uchiha for this mission, but no one had to know about him. Not now, at least.

Completely absorbed by the moon, Itachi was completely surprised when he heard the noise of an explosion not too far away. Confused by that noise, he ran in the direction of the source of the explosion and, after a few seconds, came to the edge of a large clearing where several training dummies had been reduced to ashes. Not far from their remains, there was a blond child who was going through a series of hand seals.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!"

A violent stream of flames escaped from the child's mouth and the flames hit another dummy that was brutally burned by the fire, turning it into ashes. After a few seconds, the blond interrupted the flow of flames and breathed deeply a couple of times to recover from the effort.

It did not take long for him to recognize the child ' _Naruto...is he still training at this time?_ '

Two years have passed since the fateful night where Naruto and Mihawk had merged, and now the entire village was aware of his new appearance, but only the Hokage knew the truth. Itachi had seen him many times in the past while doing exasperating exercises for the body or training with Yugao and Hayate. Having been in the same ANBU unit as Yugao, Itachi had come to know Naruto's training schedule and had been somewhat pleased and surprised to see his dedication to training.

' _If I remember correctly, the third year will be dedicated to Ninjutsu._ ' thought Itachi as a small smile appeared on his face. He still remembered that day when his little brother came home from the ninja academy and asked him to train him right away. When Itachi had asked him the reason for such a hurry, Sasuke told him that Naruto had been removed from the academy so that he could train on his own and his little brother did not want to fall behind.

' _Maybe one day you and my brother will become great rivals...I'm just sorry that I will not be here to see you grow into strong ninja._ ' thought Itachi with a bitter smile before shunshining away toward the Uchiha compound. However, what Itachi did not know was that Naruto had discovered that he was a sensor type and that he had perceived Itachi's chakra when he arrived but had said nothing to find out his intentions.

' _That chakra...it was Uchiha Itachi. I wonder why he was here..._ ' thought Naruto looking at the spot where Itachi had disappeared.

' _ **As much as I can not stand the members of that damn clan...I have to warn you that something is wrong with that Itachi.**_ ' said Kurama since she could easily pick up the negative emotions around Naruto and right now, Itachi was full of negative emotions ' _ **His mind and heart were full of negative emotions...it's as if he felt guilty but not for something he did...**_ '

' _So for what he should feel guilty?_ '

' _ **Maybe for something he will do?**_ ' suggested Kurama and Naruto slightly widened his eyes, recalling the little changes that have taken place over the last year in the village.

The tension between the Uchiha clan and the rest of Konoha that had grown steadily. The ANBU unit which patrolled the Uchiha compound more frequently. The occasional fights between the Uchiha and other ninja.

' _Kurama...do you think that...?_ '

' _ **I hope not**_ _ **kit**_ _ **, because if the**_ _ **Uchiha**_ _ **are preparing a coup and**_ _ **Itachi**_ _ **will participate in the**_ _ **fight**_ _ **...this village will turn into a lake of blood.**_ '

' _Then we have to do something. Probably the Hokage has already prepared_ _a possible counterattack_ _but it's best to be safe. If I can reach Itachi maybe I can get some answers._ ' thought Naruto running toward his apartment. Reaching it in a short time, he put on a pair of ANBU pants, a hooded jacket and simple sandals, and then started to roof-jump toward the Uchiha compound. However, jumping between the various roofs, he noticed the total absence of ANBU in that area.

' _Something is wrong...Itachi is a prodigy and he's extremely strong. It would take at least three ANBU squads to face him and yet there is no one..._ '

After a couple of minutes, he landed in front of the gates of the Uchiha's compound before widening his eyes at the sight of four Uchiha men slashed throats and the bloodstained gates.

' _They were assassinated but by whom? ANBU? No, t_ _h_ _ey were caught by surprise but there are two chūnin and two jonin, even the ANBU would struggle to take them by surprise. The only reason they did not react was..._ ' realization struck him and the answer came instantly ' _Because they were in the presence of one of them..._ '

A muffled scream of a woman was heard inside the compound.

' _Maybe the Uchiha were really preparing a coup, but Itachi's purpose is not to help them..._ '

' _ **His purpose is to exterminate his own clan...**_ ' Kurama concluded and Naruto started to run inside the compound but after only a few steps, the Kyuubi warned him ' _ **Naruto, I can fell only three people in the whole compound. One is Itachi for sure, I don't recognize the second but the last of them...**_ ' a low growl escaped from her lips ' _ **It's that bastard! The one who controlled me during that night eight years ago!**_ '

Naruto's heart nearly skipped a beat ' _Are you sure?_ '

' _ **You can bet your eyes on it! I could never forget such a repulsive presence!**_ ' roared Kurama in his mindscape while the Humandrills moved away from her.

' _I don't like it._ _From what you told me, he tried to destroy the village years ago by using his Sharingan to control you...so why is he here again?_ ' thought Naruto while running along a road full of corpses ' _Could it be that he is helping Itachi to kill all the Uchiha? But why...?_ '

' _ **As if there was a need for an answer. This clan and its members have been cursed since its birth, if this night is their last, then so be it.**_ ' growled Kurama without any sign of compassion.

' _What about the children? Do they too deserve such an end?_ ' asked Naruto whit a little frown but the Kyuubi merely scoffed at his words.

' _ **Sooner or later they would be corrupted too.**_ ' said Kurama before adding ' _ **That bastard is gone, I can't fell him anymore.**_ _ **Itachi is the only one remaining with that person I do not recognize...even though I'm sure I have already felt it at least once somewhere.**_ '

Naruto frowned even more ' _So his purpose was really to help Itachi to exterminate their clan..._ _I wonder who is the person with Itachi. If this person is not dead means that he or she is very strong or Itachi is not going to kill him or her. Maybe a member of his family?_ '

Before Naruto could think of some other hypothesis, Kurama's voice thundered in his head ' _ **Someone is approaching this place very fast. Get out of the street!**_ '

Without even slowing down, Naruto threw himself into an alley and flattened against a wall, blending perfectly with the shadows. A few moments later, a dozen figures covered with black hooded coats and white ceramic masks appeared in the middle of the street. Without saying anything, the various figures dispersed and began to recover the bodies of the various Uchiha, sealing them into scrolls.

From his point of view, Naruto raised an eyebrow ' _ANBU? What are they doing with those bodies...?_ ' he then noticed something about their masks' _Strange, their masks are different from those of the usual_ _ANBU._ '

Meanwhile, the group of masked people had successfully sealed all the corpses in that area. When they met at the same spot, the figure who was supposed to be the leader looked at the others "Area Four clear. Three of you bring the scrolls to Danzō-sama, the rest will continue to the area five. If you see the Hokage's ANBU, disperse and withdraw from your current spot. Don't engage."

All the figures nodded and three of them roof-jumped toward the center of the village while the rest of the group went along the street. Naruto, on the other hand, continued along the alley until he came up to another road where he started running again in the direction of Itachi. His mind was trying to elaborate all the information he had obtained, and despite being a slight consolation, it was certain that those ANBU were not the subordinate of the Hokage but they were apparently loyal to that Danzō.

His thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of two other masked figures.

' _ **Damn it kit, I can't always scream for you! Try to concentrate on your surroundings!**_ ' growled Kurama very nervous about the current situation.

' _My apologies, I will try to be more careful._ ' said Naruto with his eyes still hidden by the hood of his jacket. Luckily for him the two figures had not yet recognized him.

"A survivor?" asked one of the two ANBU.

"This is within the changing parameters of the mission. The youngest Uchiha with a Sharingan is eleven years old, this one is still too young to have unlocked it. We need to capture and take him to Danzō-sama." said the second and both of them rushed toward Naruto without even pulling out a weapon. After all, their opponent was a simple kid who had not even unlocked his Sharingan.

As they were discussing what to do, Naruto had already made his decision. Currently he was facing two enemies, his target was across the compound and he was not sure Itachi would stay there for a long time. So, without wasting time, he channeled some chakra into the seals on his wrists and, with small puff of smoke, two wakizashi appeared in his hands in a reverse grip. He then stretched forward his arms, rotating the wrists so that the blades were pointing toward the sky.

The two masked figures were now a few feet away from him when he raised his gaze slightly and two cold yellow eyes pierced their souls. Naruto took a deep breath and then whispered "Nitoryu..."

Before the two ANBU could react, Naruto bursted forward with an alarming speed while rotating several times on his axis and with the blades now held horizontally. In merely one second, he was behind them "Sai Kuru!" and several wind blades hurled the two ANBU in the air, tearing their flesh as if it were paper, including their throats. Before the bodies of the two soon-to-be-dead ninja could fall to the ground, Naruto had already begun to run away, but his words reached their ears.

"Sorry, but I'm in a hurry."

* * *

[ _Th_ _irty_ _minutes_ _later_ – **Tower's Roof near** **Konoha's** **Walls** ]

A masked ANBU appeared on the roof of the tower, behind another masked figure but, unlike the ANBU, this one was wearing a simple blue coat and an orange mask with black lines over it and only one eye hole.

The second figure turned toward the newcomer "It's over. You're..." he paused for a bit "Never mind. Shall we go?"

"Go on ahead." said the black haired ANBU "I'm going to confirm things...with Konoha's higher-ups."

The figure with the orange mask stared at him for a couple of seconds before disappearing into a distortion in the air, leaving the ANBU alone. After a couple of seconds, he fell to his knees as his body was shaken by light spasms. Shortly after he began to sob while warm tears fell through the eye holes of his mask.

"Why?"

Despite the sound of his sobs and the confusing state of his mind, that simple word boomed like a thunder in his ears and, faster than ever, the ANBU rose while turning to the one who had spoken.

It was at that moment that Itachi, for the third time in his life, felt the purest fear squeeze his heart.

The first time he had felt such a fear had been during the Kyuubi's attack. Despite his nature and emotional control, the Bijuu's evil aura was easily able to overcome his barriers and only the love for his little brother helped him withstand that fear.

The second time, however, was due to his father and when he used his Mangekyō Sharingan to show him a future where his father would control the Kyuubi to attack the village again. Though it was only a Genjutsu, those visions had scared Itachi and he was not afraid to admit it.

Now, the reason he was experiencing that feeling again, was a little kid with two yellow eyes that were looking at the deepest part of his soul. Itachi had met Naruto several times and his eyes had always kept some warmth in them, despite being the eyes of a predator, but now that warmth was gone and his eyes were cold and sharp. Only the Sharingan was able to intimidate someone without the KI being added, and Naruto had yet to release his own KI.

"I asked...why?" repeated Naruto without missing a beat while still glaring at Itachi who, in spite of the fear suffered because of those eyes, had not retreated or had given signs of withdrawing.

"My clan was planning a coup. If I had not acted, this village would have ended up in the chaos of civil war." explained Itachi with a calm voice, perfectly masking his anxiety.

"That's not what I want to know." said Naruto narrowing his eyes "I want to know why you are allied with the person who caused the death of my parents."

Itachi widened his eyes in disbelief behind his mask "What are you talking about?"

"Tell me, what do you know about the night when the Kyuubi appeared and attacked the village?" asked Naruto tilting slightly the head "Do not worry about sensitive information. I already know the whole story."

Itachi remained silent for a few seconds but then said "Your mother had to give birth that night. A member of my clan was an ANBU at the time and told me that many ANBU were assigned to something important, probably your mother's security during that delicate moment. However, something went wrong and the Kyuubi was released. Many witnesses say that during the first part of its attack, its eyes reflected a Sharingan. Because of this particular, my clan started to be marginalized in the village and this fomented the ideas of a possible coup. That's all I know."

Naruto nodded "It's true, everything all you've heard is the truth but you lack details." he looked at the full moon "During the time of my birth, a man killed the ANBU who were guarding the place, the wife of the Sandaime Hokage and her assistant, after which he took me hostage. My father saved me but in doing so he left my mother back and the man took advantage of it to kidnap her and release the Kyuubi." his eyes slowly returned on the form of Itachi "You already know how it ended, but what you do not know is that the man who kidnapped me and released the fox is the same person who helped you exterminate your clan."

A sudden weight crushed Itachi's heart. He had done a lot of research on that individual, discovering that he was Madara Uchiha who had survived for all these years. However, Itachi was unaware of the whole story behind the Kyuubi's attack and now he felt incredibly guilty for asking Madara to help him.

"How do you know about this...?"

Naruto merely pointed at his own belly "The Kyuubi was controlled by that man and it wasn't difficult to recognize his presence."

"I see..." Itachi looked at the roof before looking back at the blond "Do you hate me?"

"Honestly? No. I can not forgive you for being allied with that man but I'm convinced that, if you had known the whole story before your meeting with him, you would have never tried to team up with him." said Naruto with a sigh, his eyes now more calm "What are you going to do now?"

"He offered me a position in his organization. It's called Akatsuki." explained Itachi "I'll probably join his group, but now that I know the whole story I will do it for a different purpose."

Naruto raised an eyebrow "And that would be...?"

"To kill him. When I was little I met your mother, she also taught me several things and she was a dear friend of my mother. Kushina-san's death has made her suffer a lot and that man is the cause of all this." explained Itachi with his Sharingan spinning behind the mask.

"I'm sorry, but I can not let you kill him." said Naruto surprising Itachi but, before he could ask anything, the blond added "I'm the one who's gonna kill him, not you."

"He's strong, Naruto-kun. Stronger than me." said Itachi "Do you really think that you can beat him?"

"Not at my current level. Right now I could beat a chūnin without too many problems, but I would have trouble with a jonin and this puts that man outside of my current reach...but I will become strong, much stronger than now, and I will kill him. After all I will become the 'Greatest Swordsman in the World' and he will be one of my most important milestones." said Naruto with sharp eyes before turning around, ready to leave Itachi.

"Can I ask you something?"

Naruto stopped without looking back, nodding once.

"Can you protect my little brother for me?" asked Itachi with a calm voice "He wasn't aware of the coup so I did not kill him. The Hokage has already assured me that Sasuke will not know the truth and I would like it to remain in that way."

"By doing so your brother will hate you and will try to take revenge."

"I know but I don't care, I would willingly sacrifice my life for him." said Itachi with a little smile hidden by the mask "Perhaps in the future everything will settle for the best but until then I want him to become stronger so that he can keep the name of our clan high despite its dark history."

' _ **Oh hell no! Don't tell me that you are going to...!**_ '

"I'll see what I can do but I do not promise anything."

"Thank you, that's all I'm asking for." nodded Itachi "Farewell Naruto-kun, maybe we will meet again in the future." and without saying anything else, he shunshined toward the Hokage tower.

' _ **Do you really want to become a guardian for an Uchiha brat?**_ ' asked Kurama with a low growl.

' _No. As I said to Itachi, I'll see what I can do. If his brother needs help, I'll help him._ ' answered Naruto jumping down in the middle of a street.

' _ **What do you think about what Itachi said? About the group of that masked man.**_ '

' _I can only deduce that if he asked Itachi to join his group, then this Akatsuki must be made up of very strong people, at Itachi's level if not superior._ ' thought Naruto while a little grin was now on his lips ' _That means I will have to become very strong in order to face them._ '

' _ **I still do not understand why you do not want to use the Kage**_ _ **Bunshin no Jutsu**_ _ **. You already know it would be a big help in your training.**_ '

' _Because Mihawk did not become the greatest by using such a trick. If I want to surpass him I have to do it on my own, as well as you told me, not even my parents used that jutsu to train._ ' replied Naruto with a shrug while roof-jumping toward his home.

' _ **Tch. Whateve**_ _ **r**_ _ **. Just not to use it as an excuse for when the Humandrills will kick you in your ass again.**_ ' grinned Kurama before going to sleep, leaving Naruto with his thoughts.

Naruto shook his head ' _You'll see Kurama, you'll see..._ '

* * *

[ _One year later_ – **Naruto's Apartment** ]

Naruto walked toward the door immediately after hearing someone knock against it but, thanks to his sensory ability, he already knew who was knocking. Without looking away from the scroll he was reading, Naruto opened the door and asked "Good morning Hokage-sama, do you want something to drink?"

"Your sensory ability always leaves me surprised, Naruto-kun." said Hiruzen with a smile while walking inside the apartment, followed by two hidden ANBU although Naruto was already aware of them but hadn't said anything about their presence.

"It's hard to make mistakes when someone has so much chakra like you, Hokage-sama." said Naruto closing the door "Now, for that drink...?"

"You know that I'm the Hokage and therefore I can not drink so early in the morning, right?" asked Hiruzen with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto merely looked at him with a deadpanned expression.

"A glass of red wine, please..."

In the silence of the apartment, two 'slap' could be heard as the ANBU facepalmed hard against their masks.

Naruto chuckled for a bit before walking toward the kitchen. After a couple of minutes, he returned with two glasses and a bottle of red wine and placed them on the coffee table in the living room, before sitting on one of the two sofas. Hiruzen sat on the other couch and took a glass offered by Naruto, starting to sip the wine.

"Not bad, I still wonder how you can get these wines." said the Hokage with a smile as Naruto sipped his own drink.

"You just need to know where to look, Hokage-sama." replied Naruto with a grin before asking "I guess you did not come here just to drink a glass of wine. What did you want to talk about?"

Hiruzen suddenly became more serious "Tonight a team has returned from a mission in the Land of Rice Fields; the team consisted of three jonin and four chūnin. Their purpose was to infiltrate an abandoned lab that belonged to my former student Orochimaru and search information about him and his experiments." he sighed "Unfortunately my pupil has always been mindful of everything and has left several traps behind...so that's why almost the whole team has come back inside of body bags."

"Is it so bad?" asked Naruto with a calm voice slightly confused by that story. Why was the Hokage speaking to him about that mission?

"Yes, because the only survivor is Hayate Gekkō and currently he is in an operating room at the hospital."

* * *

[ _Three hours_ _later_ – **Konoha** **'s** **Hospital** ]

' _Maybe I should have taken something else as a gift._ ' thought Naruto with a bouquet of flowers in his right hand and a bag with three bottles of red wine in his left hand.

' _ **In my opinion, they will be good as gifts. Hayate is not dead and if what the old monkey has said is true, he should come back to action within two or three months.**_ ' said Kurama who, despite everything, was fond of Hayate and some other person who treated Naruto as a normal human being.

' _If you say so._ '

Walking through the corridors of the hospital, Naruto finally stopped in front of the room indicated by a nurse and, without even knocking, opened the door.

"Now Hayate-kun, open your mouth and say 'Aaaahn'..."

"Aaaahn..."

"There we go."

Naruto could only watch in silence the scene that was unfolding before his eyes. Despite his recent operation and his pale face, Hayate was more than happy to have Yūgao sitting on his lap as she fed him with apple slices. After a few seconds of 'show', he coughed in his hand to gain their attention.

If anything, their faces completely red with embarrassment were priceless.

"If you want I can still go to the pharmacy to get some condoms for you two but I think the nurses would not quite agree." said Naruto with a grin as their faces became even more red.

"NARUTO!" both of them shouted just to be glared by several nurses who looked inside the room.

After a quick apology, the two ninja turned their attention to the blond who had already placed the flowers in a glass jar, near the bottles of wine.

"A somewhat complicated mission, right?" asked Naruto before adding "I'm sorry for your team."

"Thanks." said Hayate with a sad smile before coughing several times "I was able to save myself only because I was the closest one to the exit. Orochimaru has left behind a trap of poisonous gas and I breathed a bit of that gas too. The doctors say that my lungs are irreparably damaged and that I will have to keep this cough until they find a way to heal me."

"I see. Will you continue to be a ninja?" asked Naruto noticing the sad look on Yūgao's face.

"Of course. I just have to give up some types of mission but a simple cough will not force me to retire early." nodded Hayate coughing shortly after.

' _That's not a simple cough..._ ' thought Naruto shaking his head just when a chūnin entered the room.

"Err Uzuki-san...?" he said looking at the purple haired girl "There was a problem at the academy and your niece was called in the headmaster's office."

Yūgao could only groan "Not again...it's the third time this year..." she then looked at Hayate "I'm sorry Hayate-kun, I've to go."

"Don't worry, just go." said Hayate with a smile "And say hello to that little demon for me."

She nodded before following the chūnin toward the academy, while Naruto looked at Hayate with a confused face.

"Oh right you do not know, but Yūgao-chan's niece is a troublemaker at the academy. She was also suspended for several weeks after beating up a classmate." explained Hayate with a nervous smile.

"For real...?" asked Naruto with a bored glare "They are training to be ninja and she decides to beat up a classmate?"

"Yes, well...her parents died during the Kyuubi attack and Yūgao-chan did her best to raise her but due to the various ANBU missions, her niece grew mostly alone." explained Hayate with a sad face coughing again "I tried to help her but she has already an aggressive mentality and always wants to be the boss in everything."

"What a troublesome person..." mumbled Naruto heading toward the door only to stop just when he was bout to exit. He looked back at the older ninja with an evil grin "So...no condoms for you...?"

Hayate's face turned red again "NA- _cough cough_ -NARUTO!"

"Silence! We're in a hospital!" hissed three nurses looking at the ninja who could only looking at the floor ashamed.

"Have a nice day Hayate-sensei and good luck with your rehabilitation." smiled Naruto leaving the room with a chuckle. Without saying anything, he went to the village area dedicated to the clan compounds. Walking in front of the Uchiha compound's gates, he could not help but think back to that night a year earlier.

As expected by Kurama, Sasuke had become a sort of brooding emo. No smile, no laugh, no relaxation. Only training, academy and still training. From what Naruto understood, Sasuke was the best of the class in everything. Only a certain Haruno Sakura was able to compete with him on the level of written tests, but otherwise Sasuke was the best. Although it might seem like a good thing, Sasuke had a lot of problems that were worsening his mentality.

First of all, it was Konoha itself. After the Uchiha massacre, many civilians had begun to fear the repercussions of that event, believing that the village could be targeted by other hidden villages such as Iwa or Kumo. Because of that fear, most civilians had started to see the young Uchiha as a kind of hero who would save them all. Someone also had the brilliant idea of saying around that Sasuke had survived because he had faced and defeated Itachi.

Yeah sure, because a child not even graduated was perfectly capable of fighting against one of the best ninja in the village in a duel.

The second problem was in the academy. While some teachers were still mostly impartial, others had started to help the young Uchiha more, probably in the hope that in the future he would remember their kindness. However, by doing so they were irreversibly slowing down his growth because they were making the challenges too simple. In the background there was his fan club of girls, and each girl was even neglecting her own training to try to get a date with him.

The only consolation was the heiress of the Hyuuga clan who, while not being a fan girl, was incredibly shy and the life in her compound was slowly crushing her due to her father's high expectations. Never a joy, as they say.

The last problem, and perhaps the worst one, was Sasuke himself. As it was foreseeable, the young Uchiha had closed himself and while, before the massacre, he had an open personality and was inclined to new friendships, now he was a private person who only thought of vengeance and a way to become stronger, the reason he passed all the time in the desert compound to train. Naruto could already see him with his future teammates, and to be honest he did not have great expectations about it.

Given that Itachi wanted Sasuke to become stronger, Naruto had left secretly some scrolls containing Katon jutsu since Sasuke had access to only two Katon jutsu: the Gōkakyū no Jutsu and the Hōsenka no Jutsu. For security reasons, the vault containing all the Uchiha clan jutsu was sealed by the clan and only an Uchiha with the Sharingan could access it.

Shaking his head, Naruto entered the compound and walked through the deserted streets until he came to the house which belonged to the head clan family, currently used by the only Uchiha left in the village. The blond did not go in but walked around the house until he got to the training ground where a young black haired kid was training.

"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"

A ball of fire soared in the air before hitting a training dummy that quickly turned into ashes.

"Itachi will not be caught unprepared by such a move. You should try to expand your repertoire of jutsu." said Naruto in a calm voice while mentally adding ' _I have the impression that he has not even looked at the scrolls I've left him._ '

Sasuke swirled quickly on his heels, kunai in his right hand and eyes full of surprise and anger "Who the hell are you?" however, anger soon left room for restlessness as soon as he saw Naruto's eyes, who was visibly bored.

"Simply a passing person but my advice remains. Itachi is not someone who can be defeated with such a banal jutsu." repeated Naruto looking at the training ground.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes "How can you be so sure about that?"

Naruto looked back at him with 'Are you serious?' all written over his face "Because he's a Uchiha like you and so he knows the weaknesses of that jutsu, just to begin with. He was also one of the strongest ninja in the whole village, and I'm sure he might even take on such an attack without even trying to avoid it. Did I convince you or do you want other reasons?"

Sasuke clenched his fists until his knuckles were white "Why are you here? Just to make fun of me? I recognized you, you know? You are that kid who abandoned the academy at the beginning of the second year!"

"Yes I'm that boy, my name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm not here to make fun of you." replied Naruto crossing the arms over his chest "Most likely I'm trying to help you. A vast repertoire of jutsu could help you more than repeat the same attack dozens and dozens of times."

"As if someone like you knew something about jutsu! You left the academy!" shouted Sasuke with anger again in his eyes.

"That's true...so how about a little competition? Your jutsu against mine, no limits. The first one being hit is the loser." proposed Naruto walking toward the other side of the training ground.

Sasuke looked at him with narrowed eyes before saying "If I win, you'll leave me alone."

"Sure, but if I win, you'll try to learn another jutsu." added Naruto and the black haired boy nodded before going through a set of hand seals which was mimicked by Naruto and both of them shouted "Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" but, immediately after launching his attack, Naruto went through another set of hand seals.

"Fūton: Daitoppa!"

A powerful gust of wind swallowed his sphere of fire while feeding its flames in order to create a huge flame cone that swept away Sasuke's fire smoothly and continued toward the Uchiha boy. Said boy was forced to jump to the side but the flames of Naruto's attack managed to burn his left foot, making him wince in pain.

After cutting off the stream of fire and wind, Naruto walked to the boy on the ground "As you can see, two simple C-rank jutsu can create a much stronger jutsu. Much stronger than a simple sphere of fire right?"

Sasuke glared at him but said nothing, instead he opted to try to get up. Looking at the devastation derived by that combined jutsu, he couldn't help but agree with the blond boy.

"There are also other ways to become strong without having to use a jutsu." said Naruto gaining his attention.

"What do you mean?" asked Sasuke before catching a bokken thrown by Naruto who had another bokken in his right hand. Before Sasuke could understand anything, Naruto dashed toward him and made a violent horizontal slash with his weapon. Needless to say, Sasuke did not have the means to defend himself and was thrown to the other side of the training ground, bouncing a few times to the ground.

Coughing a bit of saliva mixed with blood due to the impact, Sasuke tried to catch his breath, but Naruto was immediately above him and put the tip of his bokken over Sasuke's throat.

"This is what I mean." said Naruto with a cold glare before removing the bokken "Your brother was an ANBU, that means that he could use a sword and a tantō. Only Ninjutsu won't stop him."

"Why...are you telling me...this...?" asked Sasuke with a pained face.

"Let's just say that I'm keeping the word given." answered Naruto walking away from the Uchiha boy "I will be back in a week, I hope to see some progress for that time."

Sasuke looked at his back until he was out of sight and, with a great amount of will power, walked back in his house toward the first aid kit for his foot using the bokken as a crutch. Walking in the living room, he saw three scrolls on the coffee table, each one of the with the kanji for 'Fire' on it.

The black haired boy looked at the scrolls for a couple of seconds before shifting his gaze toward a family photo on a cabinet. He glared at his brother's face and, without even looking, grabbed one of the scrolls walking back to the training ground. He had no time for a first aid kit.

* * *

[ _One year later_ – **Konoha** **'s** **Hospital** ]

"Well, I'd say you're all right for now." said a doctor as he looked at Hayate's medical card "For a few hours you will feel your throat a bit sore but then the effect of the visit will pass."

"I see, thank you Hazane-san. I'll see you next week." said Hayate with a bow before leaving the room, finding Naruto leaning against the wall with his arm crossed "Good morning Naruto."

"Good morning to you too Hayate-sensei. What did the doctor say?" asked Naruto looking at the door of the medical room before walking away with the older ninja.

"The usual. My lungs are still in a bad shape." explained Hayate coughing several times "Apparently I will not heal so soon and I'm lucky not to get worse, coughing crisis apart."

"I see...it's a shame, I was hoping to face you at full strength." joked Naruto with a grin, gaining a side glare by Hayate who slapped the young blond on the back of his head.

"I can still kick your ass if I want."

"So you were holding back during our last twenty spars?" asked Naruto and this time Hayate could grumble something under his breath between the various coughing shots. Not far from them, two nurses were chatting with each other when, at one point, they said something that caught Naruto's attention.

"Kojima-san has been assigned to _that_ girl." said one of the two nurses shocking the other.

"What?! Why did he accept the job? Does not he know how dangerous that girl is?" asked the second and the first shrugged.

"I believe it is because of the oath of all the doctors. I just hope that that girl does not kill him with one of her illusions." said the first before walking away with her friend while Naruto was still listening.

' _Interesting. There's a girl with illusions strong enough to be able to kill. Could she belong to that clan?_ ' wondered Naruto thinking back at the books he had read to learn the various clan of Konoha and their costumes. Among them there was the Kurama clan, once renowned as one of the major clan in the village. Like the Hyuuga clan, the Kurama clan was also divided into two classes, with the main house ruling over the branch house. This fallen clan was famous for its Kekkei Genkai that allowed its members to create incredibly powerful illusions, some of which could also kill the victims of such illusions. However, over the years, the clan had produced less and less ninja and was therefore no longer recognized as one of the major clan in the village, also a few years ago the clan head's house was burned down by a sudden fire, killing the clan head and his wife.

' _I did not know that there was still someone well versed in the Genjutsu art. Maybe this girl possesses the_ _Kekkei Genkai_ _of the Kurama clan._ ' mused Naruto after waving a goodbye to Hayate.

' _ **A clan named after me? I should feel honored.**_ ' grinned Kurama in a bed in Naruto's mindscape ' _ **But the**_ _ **y**_ _ **are not a major clan so I will not acknowledge them as worthy of my name.**_ '

Naruto shook his head walking inside the Hokage Tower, greeting the secretary with a nod "Is the Hokage available now?"

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but right now he's signing..."

"YOU CAN ENTER NARUTO-KUN!" thundered the voice of Hiruzen and Naruto could almost touch the desperation in his voice. Waving at the secretary, he walked in the office where, much to his hidden pleasure, Hiruzen was still fighting against his worst enemy. The paperwork.

' _He is called 'The Professor' and has not yet thought about using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to perform his duties._ ' thought an amused Naruto sitting on a chair.

"Hello Naruto-kun, what can I do for you?" asked Hiruzen with a smile before whispering "Please help...Suzuka-chan has seized my Icha Icha book and I do not know what to do! This job will kill me!"

Naruto chuckled a bit before saying "I'd like to help you Hokage-sama, but that woman is stronger than me."

Hiruzen sighed "Damn the day when I accepted to be the Hokage..." he then looked back at his surrogate grandson with a smile "So, what can I do for you? Do you need something for your training?"

"No Hokage-sama, my training is going well." said Naruto thinking at his current training in the use of the Adamantine Sealing Chains. As provided by his training schedule, Naruto had changed 'subject' each year to become stronger. The first year was used to strengthen his body by training also in surviving and Taijutsu. The second year was used for Kenjutsu while the third for Ninjutsu.

The fourth, however, was entirely devoted to an art for which his parents were famous, Fūinjutsu. As expected, Naruto had been able to learn well the various concepts at the base of that art and had already reached the fifth level, the same level of Hiruzen, of ten expected to become a seal master.

Now the, soon-to-be, eleven years old boy was trying to understand and master the famous jutsu of his mother's clan, the Adamantine Sealing Chains. Contrary to what many believed, such special chains were not a Kekkei Genkai but a form of Fūinjutsu that only the Uzumaki clan could create, even if not all members were able to create them. Kurama had told him that his mother was the first to succeed in creating those chains after Uzumaki Mito, the wife of the Shodaime Hokage.

However, Naruto was finding great difficulty in creating them. Obviously he had just begun training in that field so he did expect to master that jutsu in a few months, after all he had a whole year ahead of him to practice and improve himself with those chains.

"I see, then what do you need?"

"While I was at the hospital, I heard two nurses speak of a certain girl as they wished a certain doctor not to be killed by one of her illusions." explained Naruto with a calm face "As it may seem to be an exaggeration, I am aware of the existence of the Kurama clan and their Kekkei Genkai, the only thing that could kill someone through illusions. By accident you know who they were talking about?"

Hiruzen looked at his surrogate grandson with a serious face before sighing "Yes, they were talking about Yakumo Kurama, the heiress of the Kurama clan. His father was the clan head but he died in a fire with his wife two years ago, though Yakumo's story is a lot more complicated and serious than it seems." seeing Naruto's curious face, Hiruzen motioned for his ANBU to leave the office. Once they left, he activated the privacy seals of the room "Although in a completely different context, you are not the only one with something inside of your body."

Naruto widened his eyes in surprise. That was definitely interesting, especially since he was the only Jinchuuriki of Konoha.

"While you are a Jinchuuriki and you have the Kyuubi inside you, she has something that could be associated with a double personality. Yakumo is a calm, gentle and confidential girl but this Ido within her is an evil entity that can control her body and use her power to hurt other people." explained the old Hokage "Years ago, her parents came to me to request a tutor to follow their daughter since her body was too weak for the life of a ninja. There are two main reasons why her parents wanted to try to make her a ninja in spite of her body. As you probably know, the Kurama clan was once one of the most famous in the village but over time they have produced less and less ninja and consequently lost their prestige, Yakumo's father wanted to use her skill in the art of Genjutsu combined with their Kekkei Genkai to bring back the Kurama clan ass one of the most prestigious."

"Another man greedy for power and money?" asked Naruto with a semi-bored face.

"More or less but, while he wanted to bring his clan back to the greatness of the past, he really loved his daughter and this brings us to the second reason for their decision. Apparently she had seen your friend Rock Lee train with his future sensei, Might Guy, and noticed how their situations were incredibly similar. Rock Lee was only capable of fighting with Taijutsu and she was good only with Genjutsu so, if he could become a ninja using only his Taijutsu, maybe she could do the same thanks to her illusions. In the end I accepted their request and I asked Kurenai Yūhi to be her tutor but unfortunately it did not go as hoped by Yakumo." continued the Hokage with a deep sigh while picking up his pipe.

"What happened? The Ido took control?" asked Naruto but the Hokage shook his head.

"Unfortunately Kurenai had just been promoted to jonin rank and had not yet much experience so I was hoping that being the tutor of a single girl could help her but in the end she was not up to the task and tried to persuade Yakumo to abandon her dream to become a ninja. Keyword 'tried'." explained Hiruzen puffing a circle of smoke "Yakumo refused to give up her dream and so Kurenai was forced to seal all her powers. Unfortunately, the Ido has managed to overcome the seal and, using Yakumo's body and powers, created the fire that caused the death of Yakumo's parents and other members of the Kurama clan. At least this is what we have been able to understand from memories of the corpses not completely carbonized. Since then she has been locked up in a room in her clan's mansion and regularly a doctor goes to her to ensure her health but her personality, now cold and even violent with most of the medics, keeps the doctors away."

"Interesting..." mused Naruto looking at the sky outside the window "Do you think it is possible to meet her?"

"I'm sorry Naruto but I do not think it's a good idea, at this moment she is highly unstable and although I want to help you..."

"I could give you the secret to defeat the paperwork...forever." said Naruto with a little grin, leaving Hiruzen with wide eyes and the pipe now on the floor.

"You're lying..."

"I never lie."

Hiruzen gulped "Are you serious...forever?"

"Forever."

"DEAL!" shouted Hiruzen grabbing an empty scroll. In a couple of minutes, he wrote some things on the scroll and handed it to Naruto "With this scroll the ANBU and the remaining members of the Kurama clan will let you pass. Now...tell me the secret to defeat this beast!"

"It's very simple Hokage-sama." said Naruto grabbing the scroll before walking toward the door "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." and with that, he left the room. However, when he was out of the building, an evil laugh echoed through the village.

"FINALLY! I defeated the beast! Take this Ōnoki, I did it before you!"

* * *

[ **Tsuchikage's** **Office** ]

A powerful sneeze swept away all the documents from the Tsuchikage's desk.

"Damn it, stupid goddamn sneeze!" shouted a short man with a big nose "It will take hours to rearrange all those documents again!"

The door of the office opened slowly and a black-haired little girl looked in, a visible grin on her lips "What's the problem old man? Is your health getting worse? Maybe you should think of a possible successor!"

"Get out of here Kurotsuchi!" shouted Ōnoki throwing a paperweight, useless in his opinion, at the little girl who quickly avoided the stone bullet with the grin still on her face before walking away while shouting "Take care of that hat for me old man!"

"Tsk, young people today..." grumbled the Tsuchikage before looking at the sheets of paper "Why do I feel like I lost to someone...?"

* * *

[ **Konoha** ]

Walking to the wooded area inside the walls, Naruto began to understand why Yakumo was still locked in her house despite being passed two years since the death of her parents. Unlike all other clan compound, the Kurama clan's compound was isolated from the rest of the village and around those houses there was no living soul except for a few clan members and the hidden ANBU.

That's when an old man with light brown hair walked toward the blond "Who are you and why are you here?"

"Greetings, my name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'm here to meet a girl named Kurama Yakumo. I have a scroll from the Hokage for the guards here." said Naruto handing him the scroll. The man took it with a raised eyebrow and, after reading it, he nodded.

"Very well, my name is Unkai and I'm the uncle of Yakumo but I'm a member of the branch family. I don't know why you want to see Yakumo but I'll take you to her. Follow me." said the man walking inside a building with Naruto behind him. They walked through a somewhat dark corridor until they stood in front of a two-sided wooden door.

Unkai knocked on the door "Yakumo, there's someone here for you." and then opened the door looking at Naruto "You may enter but be careful not to make her angry, it would be better to avoid talking about certain topics such as her former tutor and her ninja career."

Naruto nodded and walked inside as Unkai closed the door behind him. The blond looked around in that dark room, seeing various paintings on the walls or on trestles, almost missing a young girl sitting in the middle of the room.

"Who are you?" asked the girl with a calm voice looking at him with curious eyes.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, it's a pleasure to meet you Yakumo-san." said Naruto with a bow before looking back at the paintings "Are these paintings you work?"

She looked at him in silence for a few moments and then turned back to a new painting "Yes, painting is the only way I have to spend time and...forget certain things."

"I see, does that mean that you have given up becoming a ninja to be a painter?" asked Naruto freezing her hand as it was just an inch from the canvas.

Yakumo looked back at him with a glare "I have _not_ given up on becoming a ninja...but someone has taken away from me the means to become one."

"Yes, I know the story but you need to know that while the behavior of Kurenai-san and the Hokage might seem too drastic, they have done what they have done to protect the village from what's inside of you." explained Naruto with a calm voice "Your Ido is very dangerous. It's the culprit for your parents' death."

She glared even more at him "It wasn't its...my fault! It was the Hokage to order their death because he believed I was a danger to the village and wanted to stop me from becoming a ninja!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes!"

"Are you _really_ sure?" Naruto asked again with narrowed eyes, making her wince from the intensity of his look.

"Y-yes! They fear my power, the Ido inside me! He's the Kekkei Genkai of my clan! That's why they sealed it!"

"Then tell me why the fire that killed your parents happened after the ritual that sealed your Ido." said Naruto with arms crossed over his chest "There would be no reason to kill your parents if your powers have already been sealed."

Yakumo gritted her teeth "They wanted me to become a ninja, so he killed them!"

"If you're really sure...in that case, since you blame the Hokage and your ex tutor, can I look at the seal on your body? I trained for some time with Fūinjutsu and I would like to see what kind of seal was used for your Ido."

Yakumo looked at him feeling something in the back of her mind that was trying to say something through her own lips but she shook her head to clear her mind "Just...a quick look. It's on my neck." and, after turning to give him her back, she lowered slightly her pink kimono. Naruto approached the girl to see the seal and immediately noticed an anomaly.

' _This seal...is a kind of seal used to seal a person's power, mainly the chakra but this seal is a modified version for something else. The only problem with these seals is that they block the power_ _s without a_ _consciousness_ _and this is not the case with Yakumo's Ido._ ' mused Naruto looking at the black kanji on her neck before saying "This seal is wrong."

Yakumo looked at him with confused eyes "What do you mean...how can it be wrong?"

"This seal can block your power but not the power of the Ido because the Ido is a part of your mind, an evil being with a consciousness just like a Bijuu for a Jinchuuriki." explained Naruto ignoring the ' _ **I'm better than that Ido...**_ ' in his mind "With this seal, the Ido can control you and use your powers..."

"But...but it never came out since that day!" replied Yakumo with a hand over her seal.

"And how can you be sure about that? It can control your body and your mind, I think that it could block your memories too." said Naruto before adding "If you want, I can help you with this problem. As I said, I trained a lot with Fūinjutsu therefore I can find a solution."

Yakumo remained silent for a few moments "Why would you help someone like me...?"

"Because I was like you, with basically no chance of becoming a ninja but then someone helped me and now I'm on the road to becoming a ninja, even though my real dream is another." explained the blond with a smile waiting for her response.

"Do you...do you think I can still become a ninja?" asked Yakumo looking at the floor with a note of fear in her voice. During her short life, her dream had become ever more farther and unattainable due to all the obstacles she had faced, and most likely another obstacle would have led her to give up her dream of becoming a ninja.

"With traditional methods? No." said Naruto with a calm voice making her wince due to his words but then he added with a grin "However I'm not famous for my traditional methods, now let's work on that seal. Do you have some ink?"

* * *

[ _One hour_ _later_ ]

"All right, with this it's ready." said Naruto looking at the three circles of seals that he had painted on the floor of the room. Next to him, Yakumo looked curiously at the various signs that represented the seal and asked "What did you paint?"

"Basically a three-stage seal. The first stage will block any form of power out of our bodies, so the Ido won't be able to control your body, the second stage will connect our minds while the third and last stage will destroy the seal on your body." explained Naruto "After that, you'll face your Ido and don't worry about your protection, I'll be there with you."

Yakumo nodded hesitantly and, following Naruto, sat at the center of the seal with him sitting in front of her. The young boy raised his right hand in a half ram seal and held out his left hand.

"Take my hand and use the other hand to form a half ram seal. When you're ready, channel your chakra into the seal." said Naruto. Yakumo closed her eyes and, after a moment, nodded and so both of them channeled their chakra into the seal.

Upon opening her eyes, Yakumo found herself on a beach by the sea with a forest of black trees not far away and several rocks floating mid-air.

"Interesting." said Naruto behind her "The beach, the sea, the forest and this island are a part of my mindscape but the floating rocks and the sky are your doing."

"The sky...?" she looked up and widened her eyes in surprise at the colors of the sky since it was a perfect mixture of violet, black, red and blue. Watching carefully, she also saw several paintings placed on the floating rocks.

"So...what now?" asked Yakumo looking back at Naruto but he was staring at the forest with narrowed eyes.

" **Now you'll kill this pathetic boy. You don't need him, I'm the one who will help you.** " hissed a cold voice from the forest and, looking in that direction, Yakumo looked in horror at a figure with clothes and hair similar to her own but with the features of a demon. The monster seemed to notice her fear and grinned, showing even more its sharp fangs " **What's the problem Yakumo? Afraid of your power now?** "

"I-Ido?" asked Yakumo taking a step back.

The demon grinned even more " **Yes Yakumo, it's me. Now, be a good girl and take this human out of your mind! He just wants to hinder you just like that woman!** "

Naruto merely looked at the Ido with bored eyes "Still trying to manipulate her? You're indeed the dark side of her mind."

" **I'm not manipulating her, I'm helping her.** " said the Ido looking at him with hatred " **She needs me and no one else. That woman discovered me and immediately tried to seal myself to separate me from Yakumo.** " then the demon noticed the little grin on his face " **What's so funny, human?** "

"You said it. That woman _tried_ to seal you..." repeated the blond with the grin still on his lips while Yakumo looked at the Ido with a mixture of fear and confusion.

"Kurenai-sensei didn't seal you..." Yakumo whispered "The seal...the seal wasn't the right one...just as Naruto said!"

"And by taking advantage of this particular, you have controlled Yakumo's body and her parents have died because of you." concluded Naruto.

" **They were in favor of the sealing and to think that our father wanted to bring the Kurama clan back to its past splendor.** " growled the Ido with pure hatred in its eyes " **That day you were so willing to show them your potential and I could not resist so I helped you.** "

"That day...?" repeated Yakumo before widening her eyes in horror "The day they died in that fire..."

" **Yes, don't you remember?** " asked the Ido gesturing toward a black painting. The strange black substance began to melt showing the underlying painting and Yakumo stared in disbelief at the painting of a burning house.

" **Casting Genjutsu through painting another reason for which you could have become even stronger.** " said the Ido with a grin before looking back at Naruto who had the same bored look on his face " **Now, it's time to end this farce.** "

" **I could not agree more.** " growled an amused voice behind the Ido, freezing it on the spot. Slowly, the Ido turned its head and then widened its eyes at the sight of a huge fox with nine tails and red eyes.

" **W-what...?** "

" **So you're one of the reasons** **why the Kurama clan has not returned to its former glory huh?** " asked Kurama with a wide grin while Yakumo stared at the Bijuu in awe and fear. Without blinking, the giant fox raised a paw, destroying some of the floating rocks " **I think that you're a really big** **harmful hindrance** **and** **hindrances** **must be** **destroyed** **.** "

With all her strength, Kurama crushed the little demon with her paw ignoring the blue flames spat out of the Ido's mouth, thus creating a huge shock wave that sent Yakumo in the ocean while Naruto used a mental version of chakra to withstand the attack.

"Thank you for the help Kurama, but I think that Yakumo is the one to have to put an end to this." said Naruto with a little grin.

The Bijuu looked down at him and snorted " **I know, even though I must say that I would have liked to kill it on my own.** " and in an explosion of red chakra, the fox turned into her human form, starting to fly toward the castle " **I'll take a nap, do not disturb me.** "

Naruto shook his head and walked toward Yakumo who was coughing salted water mixed with sand "Are you okay?"

"More or less..." coughed Yakumo before looking at the forest with confused eyes "The...the Kyuubi! Where is...?!"

"She went to take a nap, don't worry." Naruto reassured her with a little smile before pointing at the paw-shaped crater "There's something you must do now."

Still confused by his words, she walked with him until they spotted the form of the Ido at the bottom of the crater with its limbs bended in an unnatural way and most of its teeth shattered. Swallowing hard, Yakumo began to descend toward the Ido, holding in her hands a small kunai that she always carried with her in the sleeve of her kimono, a habit that she had taken years before and which she had not abandoned yet.

" **I...** " murmured the Ido looking at the girl " **I can...help you...I'm the only one...who can...** "

"You lie...if you really wanted to help me, you would not have killed my parents." said Yakumo switching to a reverse grip of his weapon "I was and still weak, but I can still be strong and I'll do it without you!" and with a quick and precise movement, she stuck the kunai in the demon's forehead that screamed in pain and its face opened in two, revealing a second face blue and black but with no features and two eyes completely red. The Ido roared for the last time and the face grew in size, trying to swallow Yakumo but eventually it dissolved in the air with the demon's body.

Yakumo stood on her knees, breathing hard with the kunai still tight in her hands as Naruto walked behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder "You did well."

"Thank you..." nodded Yakumo with a tired smile which vanished almost immediately "I'm such a stupid..." seeing Naruto arching an eyebrow, she continued "For the last years I hated with all my heart the Hokage believing that he was behind the deaths of my parents when I was actually the one who killed them."

"Wrong." said Naruto surprising her "The Ido killed them, not you. You were emotionally unstable due to what happened with your former tutor and this allowed the Ido to act."

She nodded slowly not entirely convinced but his next words caught her attention "So, do you still want to be a kunoichi?"

Yakumo looked up at him "What?"

"I asked if you still want to be a kunoichi." repeated Naruto with a calm voice "As I said, you can't become a ninja with traditional methods but I can help you with that. I might also ask the Hokage to place you in my team once we graduate at the academy. Obviously missing two years at the end of the academy I will not be able to make you the strongest but I'm convinced that you will be a great genin by the end of our training, much stronger than the fan girls who are still at the academy."

Yakumo stood there, looking at Naruto with hope in her eyes "Would you really help me?"

"Yes, there is no reason why I should not." said Naruto helping the girl to get on her feet "Maybe you do not know, but years ago I met Rock Lee and I pushed him even further to become the best Taijutsu user of the world. Might Guy then took him under his wing a year later and since then he has improved even more. Just as he's improved, you can improve too."

Yakumo smiled with teary eyes and nodded vigorously following him out of the crater where, suddenly, a huge amount of weapons fell from the sky, making her almost jump out of her skin.

"Now...choose." said Naruto looking back at the girl who was confused by his words.

"W-what...?"

"Choose a weapon. You're a strong Genjutsu user but your body is weak and your Taijutsu is weak as a result. With a weapon, I can train you better while also training your body until we find a decent Taijutsu style for you." explained Naruto looking at her body and then at the weapons.

Yakumo frowned a bit upon hearing his explanation but nodded while looking at the weapons which were a lot, going from a simple sword to a scythe with knives, spears, whips, shields, great-swords and so on. Suddenly, her eyes paused on what was supposed to be a sword but, unlike a common katana, the double edged blade of that weapon was perfectly straight and slender. The most intriguing part was the hilt which was a metal cup with a knuckle bow extending down from the crosspiece protecting the grip.

As hypnotized by that weapon, Yakumo approached it and gripped her hand around the handle, pulling it out of the ground remaining surprised by its lightness.

"Ah a rapier, an elegant and strong weapon. Very lightweight and especially suitable for those who point a lot on speed and flexibility." said Naruto looking at the weapon with a knowing look.

"A rapier...I think that I like this one. I don't know why but..."

"I understand. This happens to many people who choose a weapon for the first time." nodded Naruto with a smile before forming a ram seal. With a powerful burst of chakra, the world around them began to disappear until a strong light forced Yakumo to close her eyes. When she opened them again, they were back in her room.

Naruto looked at her for a moment before unsealing some training weights, handing them to Yakumo "For now we will train your body, at least for a couple of months. Take these and keep them on every day, don't take them off, not even when you go to sleep or when you are under the shower. They will help you to increase your stamina and they also are special weights with seals on them, you just need to channel some chakra into them and they'll become heavier."

Yakumo took them nodding and when she saw him walking toward the door, she hurried to tell him "Thank you! For everything!"

He looked back at her with a smile "Don't worry, there's no need to thank me besides..." his smile slowly turned in an evil grin "From tomorrow, thanking me will be the least of your worries."

In spite of all her willpower, Yakumo could not hold back a shiver down her back.

' _Why do I have a bad feeling about his words...?_ '

* * *

[ _One year_ _and several months_ _later_ _(day of graduation)_ – **Konoha** **'s** **Ninja Academy** ]

A young girl in her early teens could be seen walking toward the academy slowly but firmly. Her long brown hair swayed at every step as her eyes of the same color looked at the people around her, stopping from time to time on someone who greeted her so as to return the greeting with a smile.

Yakumo still could not believe it. She was about to take on the final exam of the academy!

Thinking of what happened in the, almost, past two years, it wasn't really impossible to conceive the fact that she had gone from being a weak girl closed in a room to one of the most promising kunoichi of her entire generation. And all this thanks to a blond boy who had helped her out of the blue.

Naruto had kept his word since the first day of their joint training. For two, almost three months, she had been working on her body, with Naruto helping her in every possible way and in the end her willpower had prevailed, making her improve from a physical point of view. Since then, he has helped her improve with Ninjutsu, Taijutsu and even Fūinjutsu, and then begin her Kenjutsu training, although for that type of training they used their mindscapes since none of them had a real rapier.

The result of all those months of hard work was visible to everyone's eyes as she now had no pale complexion and had a bit of muscles thanks to all those hours of workout. Contrary to her previous style of clothing, she now wore a short-sleeved tan kimono that reached her thighs with a red fishnet shirt underneath it, black shorts, gray low-heel knee-high boots and a pair of gray forearm guards very similar to those of the ANBU, as well as a kunai pouch on her right thigh and shuriken pouch, but what no one could see without paying particular attention were the storing seals on the palms of her hands, drawn by Naruto. In each seal, several kunai and shuriken were stored for quick use but she was near to draw her personal seals so that she could store other stuff.

Reaching the academy, she leaned to the wall near the entrance, waiting for Naruto who was supposed to get there shortly after her, as he had to go to the Hokage to retrieve a document necessary for their exam.

Thinking about the Hokage, she could not help but smile. After finally apologizing to the Hokage for thinking bad of him, the old leader had become a grandfather figure for her and had also helped Yakumo study some village laws since she was the heiress to her clan anyway. Obviously, being finally free from that horrible beast that was the paperwork, Hiruzen had also started testing both Yakumo and Naruto. Their score in training matches was eighty-nine to zero.

It was quite easy to guess who was at zero.

Giggling at the memories of Naruto's various losses, she almost did not notice the huge dust cloud that was approaching the academy. With a quick jump, she clung to the academy's wall by channeling chakra at her feet just when a black-haired boy, wearing a green spandex jumpsuit, stopped suddenly in front of the entrance.

"Good morning Yakumo-san! I see you're ready for your youthful exam!" shouted Rock Lee showing his 'nice guy' pose with a sparkling smile.

Yakumo smiled while landing on the ground "Good morning to you too Rock Lee. Yes, I'm waiting for Naruto since he has to take a document for us."

"Yosh! My youthful friend and male rival will surely be able to surpass this test! And the same goes for you, my youthful friend and female rival!" shouted Rock Lee with flames in his eyes making her sweatdrop.

"Err...thanks Rock Lee, I appreciate your words." said Yakumo with a nervous smile. This had happened a few months after the beginning of her training. Rock Lee had started training from time to time with them and since then he considered them both his rivals, to be precise she was his 'female' rival, while Naruto was his 'male' rival. When Yakumo had asked for an explanation, Naruto simply whispered "Drop it...it is too troublesome to explain." and she had dropped it immediately.

Perhaps the fault of his behavior was her own, since during one of their joint training, inspired by Naruto's dream of becoming the 'Greatest Swordsman in the World', she had announced that she would become the 'Greatest Genjutsu Specialist in the World'. After her words had left he mouth, there was a youthful speech from Rock Lee, to whom he was joined by his mentor Guy and together they had created a gruesome Genjutsu with a sunset and a beach.

In all her years of Genjutsu, Yakumo had never seen anything so horrible and traumatizing.

"Yosh! It's time for me to join my team so that we can take a new youthful mission!" shouted Rock Lee and after quick bow, he ran away, leaving a dust cloud behind him. Yakumo sweatdropped again but right in that moment, she saw someone entering the courtyard of the academy and her eyes began to widen in disbelief as a thin trail of blood dripped from her nose.

Naruto had told her that he had prepared a new style for his ninja/swordsman career but that was definitely too...too...she did not even know how to describe it, even though 'hot' was among the possible descriptions.

The reason for her internal debate was a young blond-haired boy wearing a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large orange plume and a long, open black coat with no shirt underneath, with burnt orange, spiral-patterned sleeves and collar. He was also wearing a pair of gray pants held up by a decorated belt and tucked inside overly large black boots. The last thing that could stand out was a wooden omamori used as a necklace with the kanji for 'Greatest' written on it.

In the overall figure, his outfit was pretty cool and Yakumo had nothing to say about it. The only small, insignificant and banal detail that could cause some problem to her, and probably to every single woman in the village, was his perfectly visible six pack and the blood flowing from her nose was a clear sign of her, though not admitted, appreciation.

"Good morning Yakumo. I guess you're ready for the final exam." greeted Naruto ignoring the blood dripping from her nose. Kurama had already warned him of the possible repercussions caused by his new look but Naruto had said that there were no problems, in the end Mihawk always dressed in that way and yet he had never had any problems with women. Why should it ever be different with him?

"Ah! Y-yes Naruto! I'm ready!" nodded Yakumo while wiping off the blood from her face with rosy cheeks.

"Good, then we can enter. The exam is about to start." said the blond swordsman in training before entering in the building with Yakumo behind her. Walking through the corridors of the academy, and ignoring the various looks full of lust by some girls and women, Naruto could not help but think back to the six years that had passed since that fateful night.

During those six years, he had encountered several interesting people who had bonded with him, in one way or another, such as Rock Lee, Yakumo, Yūgao and Hayate. With Rock Lee he had formed a bond of friendship, but between them was also born a kind of rivalry and after their first meeting they had fought against each other hundreds of times. Yakumo was a precious friend, companion and student who had also helped him with Genjutsu because, due to the huge amount of chakra inside him, Naruto was not able to improve too much in that field. Yūgao and Hayate were his teachers and mentors, and Naruto could always count on them for anything, an additional reason why he had introduced them to Yakumo, who had become a new student for Hayate, much to the man's happiness.

Of course the one thing he was most proud of was his progress in becoming the greatest swordsman. After the first five years where he had changed the subject of his training every year, the sixth had been used to 're-cover' everything, adding even lessons of Genjutsu with Yakumo. After his last sparring match with the Hokage, a week earlier, Hiruzen had complimented the young boy for his willpower and progress. Though he did not show it too much, Naruto had felt incredibly happy to hear those words.

After a few minutes, the two stopped in front of the door indicated by a teacher and Naruto knocked a couple of times. Upon hearing a voice saying "Enter!" from inside, he opened the door and walked in with Yakumo. Immediately, any kind of chatter in the class stopped suddenly and all the students, along with the two teachers, observed the two newcomers, though in the case of the girls they mostly concentrated on Naruto's bare chest.

"Good morning." said Naruto walking toward the two teachers "Which one of you would be Umino Iruka?"

"Eh? Ah...that would be me. Can I help you?" asked the scarred man feeling uncomfortable at the sight of Naruto's eyes. Said boy simply handed him the scroll received from the Hokage and then waited with Yakumo while Iruka was reading the scroll, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

After a few minutes, the chūnin turned to the rest of the class "Ahem...students please give your welcome to Uzumaki Naruto and Kurama Yakumo who will join us today for the final exam."

"WHAT?!" yelled almost the whole class with some of the students visibly outraged by the news.

"That's not fair!" shouted a boy with a white dog on his head "That loser has left the academy during the first year!"

"Well that may be true but apparently it was the Hokage himself to suggest that so that he could personally train Naruto." explained Iruka reading the scroll "While Yakumo could not enroll at the academy due to her poor health but apparently she had a recovery in recent years and thanks to her personal tutor she was able to get ready for today's exam."

The boy with the dog grumbled something under his breath while others merely glared at Naruto for being the pupil of the Hokage. Naruto, on the other hand, looked at them with bored eyes until he spotted a familiar black haired boy who was looking back with the fingers interlaced in front of his face.

Sasuke Uchiha, despite still being a lonely and arrogant emo, had improved a lot in the last two years and the proof was evident in the fact that many teachers already thought that he was already at the level of a chūnin. Although his clothes did not change much, he had exchanged his white arm warmers for a pair of white forearm guards with the Uchiha clan's crest on both of them, with the addition of blue fingerless gloves and, much to Naruto's interest, a simple katana with black sheath and the crest of his clan on the hilt.

Naruto walked to the bottom of the room with Yakumo and sat down as Iruka and his assistant, Mizuki, began to deliver a sheet of paper to each student. What no one seemed to notice was the look of hatred Mizuki had addressed to Naruto.

' _So the demon is back...and I thought he would give up being a ninja forever. Well who cares, no matter if he will fail or not his exam, I still have my ace in the sleeve to obtain the Scroll of Seals._ ' thought the white haired man while looking at a certain girl with a sick grin.

After the written part of the exam, which Naruto said was incredibly boring, the entire class had gone out into the courtyard of the academy for the Taijutsu test where each student was to be able to resist for five minutes against an instructor or push him out of the ring. When Naruto's turn came, he found himself against Mizuki who had a very disturbing smile on his lips.

' _Let's see what you can do, demon._ ' thought Mizuki looking at the blond who simply stared at him with bored eyes.

When Iruka shouted the start of the match, Mizuki ran to attack the younger boy, trying to hit him with a wide hook, believing that it was more than enough to defeat the Jinchuuriki. Unfortunately for him, Naruto was not such an easy prey. Without even blinking, Naruto avoided all the punches of his opponent stepping back each time until he was on the edge of the ring. In that moment, Mizuki tried to hit him with a jab but Naruto lowered himself while rotating on his axis and gripping his arm with both hands.

Before Mizuki could react, Naruto threw him over his shoulder on the ground back first, with enough strength to knock the air out of his lungs. Iruka widened his eyes in surprise and began to write something on his clipboard "W-well done Naruto! You...pushed him out of the ring."

"Thank you sensei." nodded Naruto with a little smile walking back to Yakumo who smiled at him "Good job with that one Naruto!"

Naruto nodded to her all the while Mizuki was still trying to catch his breath ' _T-that demon...what is this strength?!_ '

Soon after, the students returned to their classroom and Iruka started calling them one by one to perform the three requested jutsu. Naruto looked out of the window until the name of Yakumo was called. Needless to say she was able to pass with flying colors and tied her forehead protector around her neck with a look full of happiness and pride.

"Well done Yakumo, you deserved it." said Naruto with a little smile.

She smiled back "Thank you Naruto, I would never have succeeded without you."

"Don't say that, you trained hard and the hard work is always rewarded."

"Uzuki Ami." called Iruka and both Naruto and Yakumo looked at the two instructors, now busy with a young purple-haired girl.

"That's Yūgao-sensei's niece?" asked Yakumo looking at the girl was she performed a perfect Kawarimi no Jutsu with a chair.

"Yes, I've seen her a couple of times but I never talked to her. According to what I have heard, she is a troublemaker and she is also one of the many fan-girls who have been desperately trying to get a date with Uchiha Sasuke." explained Naruto as Ami tried to perform a Henge no Jutsu, managing to transform into Iruka but with some errors here and there.

"Do you think she will pass?" asked Yugao while asked for the last jutsu. Ami went through the hand seals for the Bunshin no Jutsu but in the end the only clone created was too pale and even shorter than her. Her teacher sighed shaking his head "I'm sorry Ami but I can not promote you. In the written part you barely got the score required to pass and in the Taijutsu part you only lasted for two minutes..."

"That is you answer..." said Naruto with no trace of sadness in his voice while looking at Mizuki who was trying to convince Iruka to let her pass but without success. He was sorry that his sensei's niece had not pass the exam, but by the way he understood, Ami did not even train much during the academy years.

Half an hour later, Naruto and Yakumo left the building where there was waiting crowd of parents and friends of the various students, ready to welcome the new genin but also those who could not pass the exam.

"Glad to see you two with that headband." said a male voice to their left.

"Hayate-sensei!" smiled Yakumo walking toward the swordsman "It's been a while!"

"Sure it is." said Hayate with a smile coughing a bit "I just came back from a mission and thought about going here to see if you were able to pass."

"Did you have any doubt by chance?" asked Yakumo with narrowed eyes.

"Oh yeah, a lot of doubts." said Hayate with a grin before being punched on the shoulder by the girl "Still, it is right to congratulate you. You have come a long way."

"Thank you sensei." the two genin said with a bow but then Naruto added "I'm sorry to say that the same can not be said for Yūgao's niece."

Hayate looked at him surprised but then the meaning of those words became clear in his mind "I see...do you know where she is?"

Naruto simply pointed at the swing hanging from a tree in the yard, at the farthest point from them. On the swing, Ami was trying to swing alone with a sad expression, not caring about the others. Hayate looked at her from afar with a sad look without knowing what to say.

"Maybe I should leave her alone for now...if I talk to her I would risk making the situation worse." said the man scratching his head. Now more than ever he regretted not having helped the niece of his girlfriend.

The two new genin nodded and began to walk away with him as, at the same time, Mizuki approached Ami with a smile on his face.

* * *

[ _That night_ – **Hokage** **'s** **Office** ]

"She did what...?" asked Naruto with an arched eyebrow while Yakumo was looking at the leader of their village with incredulous eyes.

Hiruzen coughed in his hand with a bit of pink on his cheeks "Ami...she has somehow managed to steal the Scroll of Seals..."

Naruto looked at the older ninja with an 'are you serious' look before asking "Why would she decide to steal it?"

"I don't know, but the strangest thing is that she knew exactly where to look and only the ninja ranked chūnin or higher know the existence of that scroll." said Hokage while trying to think about a solution.

"Probably someone has revealed the existence of the scroll to Ami, someone who would not hesitate to use a young girl as a scapegoat." said Naruto looking at the village outside the window "You called us for my ability right?"

"Yes, there are already several ninja who are looking for her but you are one of the best sensors at my disposal." explained Hiruzen with a serious look "We can't lose the scroll and all the secrets contained in it."

"I understand." nodded Naruto leaving the office with Yakumo behind him.

"So, where do we start from?" asked the heiress of the Kurama clan since she was anxious to go to work. Using a young girl as a scapegoat was something that only the worst of the worst could do and, although she was nicer than most ninja, she wanted to make suffer the bastard who had dared to use the niece of her sensei.

"If the hypothesis of a possible mole is correct, the traitor will try to find Ami first so as to steal the scroll and run away. To do this the mole should meet her in an isolated place or ignored by the other ninja who, most likely, are still looking for Ami in the village..." mused Naruto walking in the middle of the street. Suddenly an idea came to his mind "Yakumo, go behind the Hokage Rock. Probably Ami went there."

"Are you sure?" asked Yakumo a bit confused by this sudden intuition "Wait...what about you?"

"I need to take something from my house in the event that we will have to fight against someone." explained Naruto with a little grin before shunshining toward his apartment, leaving behind a sighing Yakumo.

"Well...no reason to stay here and waste time. Better get started." said the young girl shunshining toward her own destination.

* * *

[ _Thirty minutes later_ – **Behind the** **Hokage** **Rock** ]

"Gah!"

"Iruka-sensei!" shouted Ami as Iruka was pinned against a tree by a volley of kunai.

"Weak as always, eh Iruka?" mocked Mizuki standing on the branch of a tree "Teaching at the academy has made you soft!"

"Mizuki...what's the meaning of this?!" shouted back Iruka removing the kunai from his body as Ami was looking at the white haired chūnin with confusion.

"M-Mizuki-sensei...?"

"Well hello loser, you look surprised." grinned Mizuki "Why do not you give me that scroll you got there with you? In return I will make sure your death is quick."

"B-but...the secret exam...you..." stammered Ami taking a step back from her former teacher.

"Ami! Take that scroll and run!" shouted Iruka throwing several shuriken at Mizuki but the white haired man avoided all of them before jumping toward the other chūnin. Their kunai clashed with sparks but Iruka was visibly weaker due to the injuries he had just suffered "You bastard! Why are you doing this?!"

"Poor Iruka, do not you understand?" asked Mizuki kicking him in the chest "This village is weak! I found a new village with a much stronger leader than ours and that scroll will be my gift for him!"

"You traitor!" Iruka tried to hit his former comrade with his kunai but Mizuki was too fast. The traitorous ninja laughed at him for his efforts managing to injure Iruka's right shoulder.

"You're pathetic Iruka! Look at you! Bleeding and cursing on the ground while trying to defend a completely useless girl!" laughed Mizuki cutting his left cheek and thus forcing him to jump away in order to avoid another slash "Why are you defending her? She has no talent and is a miracle that she has managed to reach the last year."

"Shut up! She isn't useless! She one of my students and I'll be damned if I left one of them in the time of need." yelled Iruka looking back at Ami "Run away Ami! I'll try to slow him down!"

"Yes Ami, run just as a good for nothing like you would!" added Mizuki avoiding three shuriken "Once I'm done with him, you'll be next!"

"I...I..." Ami was now crying, scolding herself having fallen to such a trap. But in the end she had accepted Mizuki's proposal, driven by the desire to become a ninja like her father, dead by protecting her and her mother from some rubble during the attack of the Kyuubi. Her mother's younger sister, Yūgao, had joined the ANBU at a young age and therefore could be with her as she would have liked, so Ami had found herself alone most of the time, becoming a bully at the academy to not be completely isolated. Now she only felt stupid for not having made much effort during her studies and training.

"I won't run! I'm not useless!" shouted the young girl reaching for her shuriken pouch and grab scroll. With a quick pulse of chakra, she unsealed the gift she had received from Yūgao and her boyfriend for her tenth birthday, a tantō with the sheath being black with violet flowers painted on it.

"Oh so you wanna fight? Ah! Don't make me laugh!" yelled Mizuki kicking Iruka away before grabbing one of the two fūma shuriken on his back. Making it spin quickly with his right hand, Mizuki threw it aiming at Ami with all his strength "A pathetic girl like you is unworthy of being called kunoichi so shut up and die!"

Despite the tears in her eyes, Ami managed to grin "You should have arrived sooner Mizuki-teme! You gave me time to look in the scroll and learn something!" and then the fūma shuriken passed through her but her body faded instantly, surprising the two chūnin.

' _Bunshin no Jutsu? No, that jutsu was something else...it gave me the feeling of a..._ ' thought Mizuki before widening his eyes while spinning on his heels in order to block a slash from Ami who was now behind him with the grin still on her face.

' _Shunshin no Jutsu!_ _How did she learn it? A simple jutsu like that should not be in the Scroll of Seals!_ ' thought the white haired man pushing her away while Iruka looked at this former student with wide open eyes.

' _That wasn't a simple_ _Shunshin no Jutsu!_ _She used an afterimage...then that must be...!_ '

"Zanzō Bunshin!" said Ami jumping back from her opponent "A jutsu used by a certain Shisui Uchiha, apparently the Hokage thought that was necessary necessary to write it in the scroll!"

"You little bitch!" growled Mizuki running toward her and kicking her in the midsection, throwing her against a tree. As she fell to the ground, she coughed blood mixed with saliva and tried, without success, to get up.

' _Damn it...I had to repeat that jutsu several times to learn it. My muscles are driving me crazy and I can barely move..._ ' thought Ami gritting her teeth due to the pain.

"Well I have to admit it, you managed to surprise me but unfortunately for you I have no more time to lose so I have to kill you now. Farewell!" grinned Mizuki throwing a kunai at her downed form while Iruka screamed for her to move.

Almost in slow motion, the kunai blade pierced the skull of the girl, splashing blood on the ground in front of her as her body stiffened, remaining completely immobile.

"AMI!" yelled Iruka now with tears in his eyes while Mizuki laughed at the sight of the dead body of Ami.

"I'd love to stay and chat with you Iruka, but my master is waiting." grinned Mizuki walking toward the corpse of Ami who had the Scroll of Seals strapped to her back. However, when his fingers touched the body, Ami vanished into nothingness, confusing the white haired man "What the...?"

"Are you okay Iruka-sensei?" asked a female voice behind him and, upon turning to face the newcomer, Mizuki saw a young girl talking to Iruka with Ami on her back.

"Y-you are Kurama Yakumo..." said Iruka looking at her "What are you doing here?"

"I'm helping you." said Yakumo with a smile placing Ami at his side.

The purple haired girl looked at her with pain in her eyes "Y-you..."

"Don't talk, preserve your strength until the reinforcements arrive." said Yakumo before looking back at Mizuki "So you're the mole. Now I understand why you gave me a strange feeling at the Taijutsu part of the exam..."

"Tch! Another little girl who wants to play ninja." scoffed Mizuki with a glare "I'll teach you your place so next time you will think twice before challenging me!"

"If I were you, I would pay attention to your current situation Mizuki." said a new voice, this time belonging to a young boy "Because you are not in the position to threaten anyone."

Narrowing his eyes, Mizuki turned to the source of the voice "Well, look who's there...the demon!"

Naruto ignored the white haired chūnin, walking to Yakumo "How are they?"

"Some bruises and cuts but they are not in danger." said Yakumo with a nod as Mizuki was getting angry more and more.

"Hey demon, how dare you ignore me!" shouted the white haired man before noticing something that, that morning during the exam, he had not seen on the blond.

Strapped to the boy's back, in fact, there was a long sword completely different from the common katana. Its large double-edged blade was as long as he was tall and the crossing point with the guard made it look like a cross, with the guard and the pommel being golden while the grip was blood red.

' _What the hell is that sword...?_ ' thought Mizuki with a drop of sweat running down his face.

"I wasn't ignoring you, I was just positioning myself so as not to let you hit again Iruka and Ami." explained Naruto stopping with his back facing Yakumo and the other two.

"Tch! I'm losing too much time with nobodies like you. Now I'll kill you and take that scroll!" shouted Mizuki grabbing his second fūma shuriken "I hope that sword is resistant because nothing else will save you from this!"

Naruto looked at the spinning weapon in the hand of his enemy and began to raise his arm but then, much to Mizuki's confusion, grabbed the wooden omamori hanging on his neck, taking it off immediately afterwards. Without saying anything, Naruto grabbed it with both hands and removed a piece of the pendant, revealing a small hidden blade which he gripped with his right hand.

"Hey what kind of joke is that?! Do you think that a toy like that will stop me?!" shouted Mizuki with hatred in his eyes.

"I brought my claymore with me believing that the mole was someone to be feared, but in the end it was a simple chūnin." said Naruto "I'm no beast that goes all out when hunting someone like you...unfortunately, at the moment I don't carry any smaller sharp instrument than this one."

"Are you underestimating me?! Take this and die demon!" shouted Mizuki throwing his second shuriken, aiming at Naruto's neck.

Behind the blond, Iruka and Ami yelled at him to get out of the way but Naruto simply waited for the enemy weapon to get close. When the shuriken was a few feet away from him, Naruto raised his right arm with an incredible speed. A few moments later the fūma shuriken, now split perfectly in half, fell behind his shoulders, shocking Mizuki, Iruka and Ami.

"W-what the hell happened?!" shouted Mizuki stepping back from the swordsman who looked at him with bored eyes.

"Fūton chakra, very simple." said the blond taking a step forward, only to stop and sheath his blade, then turning to Yakumo.

"Hey I'm still here demon! A broken weapon won't stop me from killing you!" yelled Mizuki with a kunai in his hand.

"As much as I would like to teach you a lesson, I'm not the kind of person who steals the prey of the others." said Naruto without looking at him.

Mizuki arched an eyebrow, not understanding his words but then, without even being able to react, the chūnin ended up on his knees, crushed by a huge amount of KI. Turning his head with difficulty, his heart lost a beat at the sight of four ANBU, one of whom had long purple hair and it was just that ANBU who emitted all that KI.

"Oh the captain is angry." said one ANBU with a bear mask.

"I'm almost sorry for that poor bastard." added the one with a bird mask shaking his head.

"Well he used that little girl, so he asked for this..." mused the third one, tapping his boar mask on the side.

"ANBU...damn it!" growled Mizuki "You won't stop me! My master is waiting for...!" the words died in his throat as the purple haired ANBU was already behind him, walking toward Ami while sheating her sword with a loud 'click'. Almost immediately, the head of Mizuki fell to the ground and his body followed it shortly, pouring a lot of blood on the ground.

' _So fast!_ ' thought Iruka and Ami while Yakumo and Naruto were already accustomed to the speed of Yūgao.

"Is everyone all right?" asked Yūgao with a calm and professional voice looking at each one of them, stopping on Ami who nodded with shame at being saved by her own aunt. However, Naruto noticed the slight tremor of Yūgao's hands, probably willing to embrace her niece but unable to do so because of her ANBU duty.

"Given the situation, it would be advisable to retrieve the scroll and bring the wounded to the hospital." said Naruto catching their attention "Me and Yakumo can take the scroll and bring it back to the Hokage, while you three can bring Iruka to the hospital and seal the traitor's body." he added looking at the team of Yūgao before shifting his gaze on her "You can bring Ami to the hospital after she has calmed down."

The three ANBU looked at each other before nodding "Very well Uzumaki-san, we entrust to you the Scroll of Seals." said the boar masked one before sealing the body of Mizuki, while his two teammates helped Iruka shunshining toward the hospital with their third teammate. Soon after, Yakumo took the scroll from Ami and shunshined to the Hokage's Office with Naruto who smiled at hearing, just before disappearing, a soft "Thank you." from Yūgao.

As soon as they were alone, Yūgao engulfed Ami in a strong hug "I'm sorry. It's all my fault."

Ami shook his head with new tears in her eyes "No...it's mine...I'm a failure..." she began to sobbing "I got fooled like a child and I even failed the exam at the academy...I'm a shame for my parents!"

"Sssh! Don't cry, don't cry. You're not a failure. You used the weapon we gave you to fight that traitor, I could not be prouder of you." said Yūgao with a smile "Don't worry for the exam, there is always next year and this time I will be there to help you."

Ami nodded crying in Yūgao's arms, all under the look of a Hokage who had seen everything through his crystal ball with a warm smile on his lips.

* * *

[ _One hour_ _later_ – **Hokage's Office** ]

"And that's what happened, Hokage-sama." said Yūgao, still with the mask on her face, as she ended her report with Naruto, Yakumo and Ami behind her.

"That's good to hear Cat, I'm sure Inoichi will be able to find out something from Mizuki's mind. We need to know who is this 'master' who could benefit from the Scroll of Seals." said Hiruzen with a serious look before smiling at Ami "Now, I think it's time to give you something." and then tossed at her a forehead protector, shocking her.

"B-but...Hokage-sama...this is...!"

"Yes, now you're officially a genin of Konoha. Congratulations Ami-chan." said Hiruzen with a smile as the purple haired girl cried again while nodding with a smile on her face.

"Now...Cat, if I remember correctly, you wanted to leave the ANBU to become a simple jonin instructor so you could spend more time with your family, is that right?" asked Hiruzen surprising both Ami and Yūgao who nodded "Yes, Hokage-sama. I made a request a week ago."

Hiruzen's smile became more diabolical, unnerving the others in the room "Well your request has just been accepted and I think I have a good team in mind for you..."

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **FINALLY! IT'S OVER! THE SECOND CHAPTER IS DONE!**

 **I still can not believe it...forty-two (forty-three now) pages seemed endless to me. I hope you enjoyed this maxi chapter (do not take the habit of reading chapters so long :P)! Now it's time for something I've never done on this site: FAQ! Below I will put some of the most commonly asked questions with their answers so as to dispel your doubts and explain some things!**

 **FAQ:**

 **Q) Will there be other reincarnations, besides Mihawk?**

 **A) No, Mihawk is and will be the only reincarnation from One Piece.**

 **Q) Will there be a pairing for Naruto?**

 **A) Yes, there will be a pairing (I'm not telling now if harem or not).**

 **Q) Will there be bashing?**

 **A) No, as much as I like a good amount of bashing, there will be no bashing in this fic.**

 **Q) Will you add more elements from One Piece?**

 **A) Yes and no, I'll probably add some fighting styles (such as the Black Leg) but I don't know if I'll add Devil Fruits and things like that.**

 **Q) Will Naruto act like Mihawk or he will be a mixture of the two?**

 **A) Well, for all those who have read the chapter, you will notice that Naruto is more calm and smart than the canon one. This is due to the merging with Mihawk but more than anything is one of the rules of the challenge. While he will not be a perfect copy of Mihawk, he will act like him in many aspects (such as poor attendance and his hospitality).**

 **Q) Will Naruto use Mihawk's style and sword?**

 **A) Yes, Naruto will for sure use Mihawk's style and a perfect copy of his sword BUT he won't use only that. As you have read, he also knows Zoro's moves and will not be the only addition to his repertoire. In the end, he will use more Kenjutsu styles (again, it's a rule of the challenge).**

 **Q) Isn't Naruto too strong now?**

 **A) Uhm...yes and no, mostly no. He trained hard for six years so part of his strength is legitimate but he is not OP, far from it. As I said, he started off from scratch and will improve with the passing of time.**

 **Q) There are more swords and swordsmen/swordswomen than normal, is not it?**

 **A) Yes, this is one of the changes I will bring to the canon universe. There will be more swordsmen and swordswomen (such as Yakumo, Ami and a younger Sasuke), because in the end there are few swordsmen/swordswomen in the canon universe and if Naruto has to become the best, he has to deal with many enemies. This does not mean that everyone will be a swordsman/swordswoman, but there will be many additions.**

 **Q) The sword on Naruto's back at the end. Is that a simple claymore?**

 **A) Yes, it's a simple claymore but it's one of the claymore from the anime 'Claymore' so you can search for some picture to get an idea of his sword.**

 **Q) Ami isn't the niece of Yūgao, why add her?**

 **A) Because I like to use forgotten characters and so I'll use Ami as the niece of Yūgao.**

 **Q) Will this be only a One Piece x Naruto crossover?**

 **A) Now, I'm aware that I could lose many readers with this answer but...no, this won't be a straight OP x Naruto crossover but it won't be a mass crossover either. As mentioned before, Naruto will use more Kenjutsu styles (challenge's rule) and face many enemies so I will take some weapons, styles and opponents from other manga, anime, video games and so on. Now, do not imagine something like Erza Scarlett (Fairy Tail) fighting Naruto or things like that. There will be only a few weapons (mostly swords), styles and some characters to reinforce the story but the fic will follow the storyline of the canon (manga) universe, so don't worry.**

 **Q) Yakumo's story with the Ido was a bit different in the filler, wasn't it?**

 **A) Yes but I do not really like that arc so I changed it to be able to get rid of it right away.**

 **Q) There are a some errors and inverted words, can you correct them?**

 **A) I'd like to, but English is not my mother language so I don't really know when I'm making a mistake with the construction of the sentence (please forgive me for that).**

 **Q) Why did you turn Kurama into a girl?**

 **A) I wanted to create a sort of substitute for Perona in Naruto's mindscape.**

 **Q) How can Naruto use Zoro's moves if he merged with the Mihawk?**

 **A) Mihawk trained Zoro so most likely he has all his moves imprinted in his memory (also this is a challenge's rule :P).**

 **I would say that for now we are done and if you have any other questions, I will reply in the next chapter! I also want to thank you all for the enormous interest shown in this story! It had a great success at its debut! Thank you very much!**

 **Now, time to say goodbye for now!**

 **See you around and have a nice morning/day/night!**


	3. The First Obstacle

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto nor One Piece.**

"Talking"

' _Thinking_ '

" **Demon talking** "

' _ **Demon thinking**_ '

[ _Time_ – **Place** ]

* * *

 **THE LEGACY OF THE GREATEST SWORDSMAN**

 **§ § § § §**

 **Chapter 3: The First Obstacle**

 **§ § § § §**

* * *

[ **Konoha's Ninja Academy** ]

An air of excitement and anxiety hovered in that class, where all the young ninjas who had passed the final test were gathered for the last time. Shortly thereafter, they would discover in which team they had been assigned, as they would learn of their new jonin sensei, those who would train them from that day forward. While many of those present were talking to each other, trying to guess the various teams, several people remained silent, preferring to wait for the list of teams without getting too strange ideas.

In the front row, Sasuke was currently busy sharpening his katana with a whetstone, attracting the attention of his fangirl army, who were doing nothing but squealing delighted by his attitude, completely ignoring his displeasure in hearing their comments.

In the back rows, the various heirs of the prestigious clans of Konoha tried to pass the time in their own way. Shino, the heir of the Aburame clan, was intent on talking to his bugs, giving the impression of a boy talking to himself in a low voice. Somewhat disturbing from a certain point of view, but the vast majority of the class didn't even seem to notice him.

Sitting to his right, there was the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, Hinata. The young, and definitely shy, girl had been silent since she had entered the classroom and all she had done was to have occasional glances at the last row, where Naruto and Yakumo were sitting, intent on exchanging a few words from time to time, much to her displeasure and sadness. Watching those two allowed her to completely ignore Kiba's words, which did not stop telling everyone that he would be the first to be promoted to chūnin and the like. Besides her, most of the class did not deign to answer the young heir of the Inuzuka clan.

In the row behind them, one of their peers was sleeping with his arms folded on the desk, using them as a pillow, while at his side a boy with a more massive physique was finishing eating a packet of chips. The third, judging by the empty bags on the desk in front of him. The heirs of the Nara and Akimichi, Shikamaru and Choji, they were spending that day like any other day in the academy: sleeping or eating.

The last heir of a clan in the class, heiress in this case, was a blonde girl, intent on insulting with the girl in front of her, who had long hair with a particular pink color. Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno were on the point of hitting each other just to sit next to Sasuke, without having asked him if he was fine with it of course, when the door opened, attracting the attention of many of those present, who were shocked to see Ami enter the room with brand new clothes.

In place of her usual long red skirt, she wore an open front variant with tight black shorts that reached above her knees, paired with black ninja high boots up to her calves. Her blouse had been replaced with a purple shirt with only the right sleeve that also covered her hand, while on the left arm was visible an arm-guard of the same color, similar to those worn by the ANBU, and her forehead protector firmly tied around the biceps. The last elements of her new look, excluding the classic ninja pouches, were a chest-plate that covered her upper chest and her tantō placed horizontally on her back, just above the shuriken pouch.

"Wha...Ami?! What the hell are you doing here?!" screamed Sakura pointing at her.

"Yeah, you failed the exam, remember?" added Ino crossing her arms over the chest.

"I think students who have passed the test should be forced to go to the eye doctor because neither of you have eyes that work!" Ami shouted back pointing at her forehead protector "As you can see, but I have my doubts, I'm a ninja too! I was promoted last night!"

"And why did they promote you at night?" asked Sakura with suspicion in her eyes.

"That is a secret information. If you want to know how it went, ask the Hokage." replied Ami with a smug grin over her face, walking past them. Both were slightly surprised by her words but then turned to her, thinking she was trying to steal the place near Sasuke. However, much to their surprise, she ignored the last loyal Uchiha and kept walking until she stopped beside the row where Naruto and Yakumo were sitting. Pointing to the empty seat to Yakumo's right, Ami looked away before asking "M-may I sit here...?"

Yakumo smiled at her "Of course you can!"

After she sat down, the heiress of the Kurama clan asked her "So...new clothes?"

"More or less..." admitted Ami scratching the back of her head "These are old clothes of aunt Yūgao, except the red skirt. All my clothes were not exactly suitable for ninja life, so she decided to give me something of her own." she then noticed something looking at Naruto "Where's that huge sword you had on your back?"

"That sword is a claymore and for now it's at home. There was no need to bring it today." explained Naruto with a calm voice but Ami could not help but feel a shiver down her back in seeing those eyes fixed on her. At that moment, when many of those present were speechless in seeing Ami talking quietly with those two who had presented themselves only at the final exam, the door of the class opened and Iruka entered with a smile on his lips.

"Good morning students! Glad to see that you are all here." said the teacher looking at the class while sitting behind his desk "As you know, today you will be divided into teams and a jonin will be assigned as your sensei. Those who will be in your same team will become your new comrades, they will be almost like a family for you. You will fight together, you will learn together, you will grow together. No matter what happens, you will have to face all your future challenges together. This is what makes Konoha the strongest hidden village of all, the teamwork and the bond that unites all the ninja, our Will of Fire! Anyway, I'm proud to have been your teacher for these five years and when you're going to become successful ninja, please remember me while I'll still be here to explain to you brats like you."

Many of the students cheered at his words, thanking him in their own way and after a few minutes, Iruka silenced them by raising a clipboard "Now I will name the teams of this class. Team One..."

"I wonder what our team will be..." whispered Yakumo to Ami who nodded "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that we're going to be in the same team after last night...but I've no idea about the number."

"We just need to wait and listen, it's almost over." said Naruto with his eyes closed.

"Team Seven...Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Sai. Your jonin sensei is Kakashi Hatake. Team Eight...Hinata Hyuuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame. Your jonin sensei is Kurenai Yūhi. Team Nine is still active. Team Ten...Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. Your jonin sensei is Asuma Sarutobi. Lastly, Team..." Iruka paused a moment with a little smirk finding its way on his face "Team Blade...Naruto Uzumaki, Yakumo Kurama and Ami Uzuki. Your jonin sensei is Yūgao Uzuki. My work is finished, soon your teachers will come to pick you up. Good luck everyone! I hope I'll see you again in the future!"

"Hey wait a minute! Why all the teams are numbered but the last one has a name of its own?!" shouted Kiba glaring back at the last row where Ami was grinning at him, Yakumo was simply smiling and Naruto had no emotion on his face.

"Hokage's orders." said Iruka with a shrug "You can always go to him and ask why he decided to give a different name to that team."

Paling quickly, Kiba just sit down with no answer while some of his classmates exchanged uncertain glances. After another farewell, Iruka left the class and in a short time, several jonin began to arrive, taking away their teams.

"Team Blade?" asked Yūgao looking at the class with a smile as Naruto, Ami and Yakumo walked toward her "Meet me at the training ground thirteen in fifteen minutes!" and with that, she shunshined away, leaving behind a trail of leaves. Without waiting a second, Yakumo put a hand on Ami's shoulder and, together with Naruto, they shunshined toward the training ground chosen by their sensei.

"What the hell?! What was that jutsu?!" shouted Kiba widening his eyes while the whole class was speechless. Sasuke in particular was gripping the hilt of his katana with a look of irritation.

' _Both already know the Shunshin no Jutsu_ _(Body Flicker Technique)_ _..._ ' thought Sasuke looking at the windows ' _I need to learn it..._ '

* * *

[ _Two minutes later_ – **Training Ground Thirteen** ]

"Glad to see you're fast as usual." said Yūgao with a smile as her students appeared in front of her with Ami being a little green on her face.

"D-Don't ever do that again all of a sudden!" shouted Ami glaring at Yakumo who scratched the back of her head.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Yakumo said "The first times are always hard on the body."

"Don't worry Ami, I'll teach you that technique as soon as the team is official." said Yūgao catching the two younger girls off guard.

"What do you mean, Yūgao-sensei? The team isn't official yet?" asked Yakumo whit Ami nodding while Naruto stood silent, looking at their teacher.

"No, it is not. Right now, you are not yet real ninja despite your forehead protector. The test you took yesterday was used only to thin out the ranks, removing those who were not up to the real exam." explained Yūgao with a serious look "Tomorrow morning at seven o'clock I want to see you again here, so you can face the real test, but for now, let's get to know each other a little!" the three students looked at her with an 'Are you serious?' look, making her sweatdrop "Yes I know, you three know me well but the same can not be said for you. Naruto and Yakumo, you have known each other for some time but you do not know much about Ami and vice versa. Say something about yourself such as dreams, what you like, what you do not like and so on."

Looking at Ami, Yakumo motioned for her to start and the purple haired girl, after a sigh, said "I like shopping, eating blackberry tarts and seeing Sakura-oroka and Ino-bunta fail when they try to get Sasuke's attention. I do not like rapists, traitors, worms, rain and...and being left behind." she looked away with a slight blush "My dream is to become a strong ninja like my aunt..."

Yūgao smiled at her, despite not being impressed by the things her niece liked 'Fortunately, she stopped caring about the Uchiha in the last period...talking about miracles...'

After a couple of seconds, Ami looked at her female teammate who smiled "I like painting, training with my Genjutsu and training with Naruto, Rock Lee, Yūgao-sensei and Hayate-sensei. I hate rapists, traitors, those who can not distinguish a kunai from the scroll in which it is contained and those who think that Genjutsu are useless. My dream is to become the Greatest Genjutsu Specialist in the world!"

Ami looked at Yakumo with awe in her eyes. Becoming the best in the world was a very impressive dream, almost impossible to achieve, yet the heiress of the Kurama clan did not seem at all intimidated by the long road ahead.

' _Then again...a few days ago I thought I saw a guy with a horrible aesthetic sense screaming something like wanting to become the Greatest Taijutsu Specialist in the world..._ ' thought Ami with a shiver at the thought of that boy and his eyebrows before looking at Naruto.

"I like ramen, training with Yakumo, Rock Lee, Yūgao-sensei and Hayate-sensei, read a good book and my swords. I dislike rapists, traitors, those who use their power inappropriately and politicians." said Naruto recalling several moments in which Mihawk had found himself working for the Gorosei alongside the Marines and his fellow Shichibukai "My dream...no, my goal is to become the Greatest Swordsman in the world."

Just like with Yakumo, Ami looked at her comrade in awe ' _What's wrong with everyone?! Both of them want to become the best in something...my dream sounds really stupid and trivial right now..._ '

"Very good." nodded Yūgao with a smile "Now you are free to go but remember: tomorrow morning at seven o'clock. Do not be late and try to have a healthy and nutritious breakfast."

After their teacher left, Naruto turned to Ami "Last night we had no way to talk properly, so I would like to fix it now. From what the Hokage told me, you managed to steal the Scroll of Seals and then decided to face Mizuki despite the disadvantage you were in. I am particularly impressed by your determination, many people would have let Mizuki escape."

Ami blushed a bit looking away "It was nothing...I always hated that bastard and I couldn't let him go without fighting." she looked back at them with a grin "At least his plan allowed me to be promoted and learn a new technique!"

"Ah yes...I could only see the moment when you tried to attack Mizuki from behind. You said it's called Zanzō Bunshin (Afterimage Clone), right?" asked Yakumo looking at Ami who nodded before taking a couple of steps away from them. After a few seconds of concentration, Ami assumed a determined expression and immediately afterwards, two Ami appeared at her side. While Yakumo was completely surprised by the jutsu, wondering what kind of Bunshin it actually was, Naruto had much better eyes than hers and could very well see the slight discrepancies on Ami's edges.

"I see...it's not a real Bunshin jutsu but a speed technique. You are moving at such a speed as to leave afterimages, thus creating clones of yourself." explained Naruto with a nod while Ami stopped the jutsu, painting a bit "I can understand why that technique was inserted into the Scroll of Seals. Any ninja that focuses on speed could use it to become far more deadly. However I am convinced that this technique will allow you to learn faster the Shunshin no Jutsu, being both very similar, I would even dare to say that you already have the basis to learn it easily. You just have to train yourself to expand your chakra reserves."

Yakumo nodded at the explanation of her friend before tilting her head to the side "I have a question...how did you manage to steal the Scroll of Seals? Should not it be super protected?"

Ami blushed again scratching the back of her head "Well...Mizuki told me where to find it and thanks to aunt Yūgao I knew that in rare moments there are no ANBU in the Hokage office so I took advantage of it and then I...I..." she mumbled the last words, earning a couple of raised eyebrows.

"Um...sorry, what did you say? I couldn't hear you." asked Yakumo walking closer to her teammate who looked at her with the face completely red.

"I said that I henged into a nude version of aunt Yūgao and that the Hokage fainted because of a violent nosebleeds!"

A surreal silence claimed the training ground as both Naruto and Yakumo looked at the girl in front of them with incredulous eyes. All three stood motionless for several seconds until Naruto was forced to cut off the mental link with Kurama for not hearing her uncontrolled laughter.

"I...see..." mumbled Yakumo with a tint of pink on her cheeks.

Next to her, he managed to recover first thanks to Mihawk's memories. After all, the man had seen so many things during his life and the pirate named Vinsmoke Sanji had been a perverted womanizer and decidedly extravagant. After shaking his head, he looked at Yakumo "Better to get ready for tomorrow, but you should come with me for a moment." as he walked away, he glanced back at Ami "Feel free to come with us. It could be useful for you."

Slightly surprised by the offer, Ami followed them without saying anything until the trio was in front of a ninja equipment store that Naruto and Yakumo knew very well, especially the blonde, since it was the shop where he had discovered his chakra affinities and where he continued to buy stocks since when he started his training.

Opening the door, they were greeted by a large man "Ah Naruto, Yakumo! My best customers! What can I do for you..." he paused a moment looking at Ami "...and your friend?"

"Good morning, Daiki." said Naruto with a nod "I'm here for the order I commissioned you a few months ago. Is it ready?"

Daiki grinned at him "Of course it is! It took me a while but with the indications you gave me I managed to finish it in time."

The man walked away from the counter to go to the back room where his personal forge was, and after a few seconds, he came back with a wooden box that was about fifty inches long and six inches tall, with metal-coated edges and two drawbolts positioned on the side of the opening. Daiki placed it on the counter, waiting for some reaction from Naruto, who simply looked at Yakumo, nodding at the box with his head.

"Open it."

Confused now more than ever, Yakumo approached the box and snapped the two drawbolts, slowly lifting the lid and, when she saw what was inside the box, she gasped as her hands went to cover her mouth, while Ami widened her eyes in surprise.

Inside the box there was a rapier resting on a purple velvet sheet. The scabbard was made of finely worked black leather with a steel-covered tip and a red Konoha symbol had been painted at the base, near the hilt. The metal cup of the hilt, much to Yakumo's surprise, was made of bright steel, almost white, with several feathers etched on the metal. Lastly, while the grip was covered in red leather, the knuckle bow extending down from the crosspiece was actually shaped like the symbol of the Kurama clan.

Yakumo stared at the weapon for several seconds without knowing what to say. Swallowing loudly, she looked at Daiki who nodded to her with a wide smile and, stretching out her arms, she lifted the rapier, being surprised at how light it was. Grasping the handle firmly, she began to slowly draw the sword, gaping in front of the beauty of the blade that did not even have an imperfection. Taking a few steps backward, she moved her arm, slowly slashing at the air and then trying a few lunges. The faint sound produced by her blade resounded in the silence of the shop and after a few seconds, she sheathed the weapon.

As she looked down at her new rapier she could not help but tremble slightly, trying in vain not to sob "Thank you...it's a wonderful gift..."

"You should thank Naruto. It is he who has explained to me carefully how to create that weapon. Without him I would never have succeeded." said Daiki with the smile still on his face.

Looking at her blond teammate, Yakumo saw a smile on his face too "You deserve it. You've worked hard since we met, and when I helped you, you chose a rapier. It is only right that you receive one even in the real world."

Despite all of Mihawk's memories, Naruto could not foresee Yakumo's reaction, and she threw herself on him, closing him in a hug as she cried out of control "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Still having a confused expression on his face, Naruto patted her on the back "You don't have to thank me. From now on you can really train yourself to be a swordswoman. Take advantage of today to get acquainted with your new weapon, tomorrow you will need it."

Yakumo pulled away from him with a smile and a flush on her cheeks "I will! I won't let you down, I promise!" and with that, she ran out of the store and saying bye to her team and Daiki who laughed for several seconds.

"Well I must say, you know how to make a woman happy." said the man looking at Naruto before adding "I wonder if you can make her happy in another way..."

Ami blushed at the innuendo but Naruto merely rolled his eyes before focusing on his second teammate "Now for you..."

"U-Uh?! Me?" asked Ami pointing at herself.

Naruto nodded "From what Yakumo told me, you can handle your tantō, which is also a well-made weapon. Although you are still a beginner you can move very quickly and that is why, if you want to learn the art of the sword, it would be better if you focused on a style based on speed, using appropriate weapons. In addition to your tantō I would also suggest a pair of wakizashi. I can help you improve with them if Yūgao-sensei and Hayate-sensei can not help you at a certain time."

"W-Well I don't know..." mumbled Ami picking up her weapon "I'd like to learn about Kenjutsu...but I don't know if I can. I mean...it is not too late?"

"Of course not." Naruto said without hesitation "While it is true that Yakumo started before you, she learned only the basics of Kenjutsu using different weapons from her new rapier. Although she already has the movements in mind, she will start from today to train with a real weapon and the same can be said of you if you want it. I certainly do not expect you to learn all the basics right away. After all, it's a new field for you."

"I..." Ami looked again at her weapon before shaking her head, meeting Naruto's gaze "S-So...wakizashi?"

"Yes, I think they'll be good for you." Naruto said nodding to Daiki who walked away to get the weapons "But just to be sure, we'll train together for a couple of hours so that you can learn the basic movements of your two styles."

"What? Two?" asked Ami tilting her head.

"Of course. One for your tantō and one for your two wakizashi. Of course you can learn other styles if you wish, but it would be better to start from something simple." explained Naruto while Daiki returned with two simple-looking wakizashi: black scabbard, golden circular guard, and red fabric around the hilt. Ami picked up the two weapons, weighing them for a few moments before placing them on her back like an X, with the handles protruding from above her shoulders.

After paying for the two blades and Yakumo's rapier, Naruto left the shop with Ami, heading towards the training grounds.

"Err...Naruto?" said Ami looking away from him.

"Mh?"

"Thank you...for helping me..."

"You're welcome." nodded the blond with a small smirk "Now let's get started. Time is short and there are many things to learn, so I will be a bit more severe than normal."

Unconsciously, Ami felt herself shiver ' _Why do I have a bad feeling about this...?_ '

* * *

[ _Five hours later_ – **Yūgao** **and Ami's House** ]

Hearing the front door open and then close after a few seconds, Yūgao looked up from the magazine she was reading just to widen her eyes in surprise after seeing Ami with several cuts on the whole body and the face of someone who had just spent a horrible day.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds, until Yūgao said "Naruto?"

"Naruto."

"Training?"

"Torture..."

"Three hours?"

"Four and a half..."

Yūgao nodded slowly while Ami walked toward the bathroom for a well-deserved shower. As she moved away from the entrance, the older girl took notice of the two wakizashi trapped to her back with a little smile.

' _It really looks like this will really be an interesting team._ ' thought Yūgao returning to her magazine with the smile still on her face.

* * *

[ _The next day_ – **Training Ground Thirteen** ]

Upon their arrival at the camp, the three young ninja immediately noticed that their sensei was not alone. Behind Yūgao, in fact, there were two men dressed almost identically with a bandana on their heads, but while one of them wore it in a normal way, the other wore it on the back, with the knot on the forehead. Naruto and Yakumo recognized Hayate right away but the man with a senbon needle between his teeth was a stranger to them. Ami on the other hand...

"Genma-san? What are you doing here?" asked the purple haired girl tilting her head.

The now named Genma smirked at her "Good to see you again, Ami. Hayate told me that you risked a lot the other day."

"Yes...you could say that..." mumbled her looking away with a light blush.

Genma looked at the other two "Nice to meet you. I'm Genma Shiranui, a friend of Hayate and Yūgao."

The two bowed their heads to him before looking at their team sensei with a questioning look.

"As I told you yesterday, today you will have to do the real test to become genin of Konoha." said the young woman with serious eyes "Normally, the test involves the recovery of two bells on my person in a limited time to see if you know how to act as a team. However, I'm sure that something like that would be too easy to guess, so I decided to change the test by opting for a simple evaluation of your skills but since both me and Hayate-kun are too emotionally attached to you, the present Genma will be your opponent for the test. You have to fight him with everything you have to impress him and he will decide if you are worthy of becoming genin or not."

As her teammates stared at Genma defiantly, Ami seemed to be much more insecure about the test, therefore she asked "Um...Yūgao-sensei, are you sure about this? I don't think I can face someone like Genma-san...he's a tokubetsu jonin like Hayate!"

"I know Ami, but you don't have to worry. The purpose of the test is not to defeat Genma but to impress him." explained Yūgao with a smile "Show him what you can do and I'm sure everything will be fine."

Ami was still unsure but nodded anyway. After that, Yūgao and Hayate wished them good luck before shunshining away, leaving Genma with the three younger ninja who immediately jumped back to put some distance between them and the jonin.

"All right, let's start then." said Genma looking each of of them before throwing a volley of kunai and shuriken at his opponents, to see their reactions.

Having not trained for a long time, except with Naruto the day before, Ami preferred to be on the safe side and, before the enemy projectiles could hit her, she used a quick Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) to replace herself with a log which was immediately hit in her place.

Not far from her, Naruto maintained his position and went through a brief series of hand-seals before calling his technique "Fūton: Bouseki Tate no Kaze (Wind Release: Spinning Shield of Winds)!". In front of him, the air began to spin rapidly creating a sort of circular shield that absorbed the various projectiles before sending them back to Genma who looked at the scene with a raised eyebrow since those shuriken and kunai weren't fast enough to surprise him, allowing him to divert them all with just one kunai in his right hand.

Lastly, Yakumo used her flexibility and agility to avoid all the kunai and shuriken with quick dodges, without even being scratched. When she also avoided the last kunai, she threw a dozen of kunai back at Genma, only that her own had explosive tags attached to them.

Seeing the explosives, the jonin flipped back and went through a series of hand-seals before slamming both hands to the ground.

"Doton: Doryūheki (Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall)!"

When the explosive kunai were about to hit Genma, a thick wall of earth and rock rose from the ground in front of him, absorbing the impact of the explosions before shattering, raising a great amount of dust and smoke. The jonin looked around to try to identify his opponents in the midst of all that smoke and only thanks to his years of experience he managed to hear a sound on his left. Promptly raising the right hand, his kunai collided with the one held by Yakumo, who found herself instantly in a stall position, not being strong enough to overpower him, however the man was forced to concentrate on Naruto, who came out of the smoke in front of him with both hands clasped around the hilt of his claymore and the weapon raised for a slice from above.

With one glance, Genma realized that defending himself with a kunai wouldn't be enough, so he covered his second blade with a large amount of Doton chakra and prepared for the impact that, much to his surprise, was heavier than expected. The blade of his kunai was not destroyed, but his whole arm was numbed for a few seconds, forcing him to apply more force than expected to prevent Naruto from overwhelming him. The assault, however, wasn't yet concluded because, from his left, Ami emerged with her tantō unsheathed and ready to strike, but the jonin did not panic and, slightly lowering his left arm so as not to have it on his line of shooting without losing the fight with Naruto, he spat the senbon between his teeth.

Much to her shock, the senbon was so fast that Ami could not react and was forced to stop for the pain when the small weapon stuck in her right thigh, forcing her to her knees. Naruto and Yakumo tried to overwhelm him, but the jonin jumped backwards, throwing his two kunai so he could have his hands free for a new jutsu.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique)!"

Dozens of small fireballs headed for the three genin, but Naruto and Yakumo, after positioning themselves in front of Ami to protect her, went through two different sets of hand-seals.

"Suiton: Teppōdama (Water Release: Gunshot)!"

"Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!"

Yakumo's water bullet and Naruto's wind attack merged together to counteract the fireballs that were canceled in seconds, creating a large cloud of steam, thus hiding their opponent.

"We are at the starting point!" hissed Ami removing the senbon needle from her leg but when Yakumo was about to say something, small balls were thrown out of the cloud of steam, exploding a few moments later creating huge flashes that blinded Yakumo and Ami while Naruto managed to reduce the effect by tilting his head forward, using the visor of the his hat to protect his eyes from the light.

Sensing the movement in front of him, Naruto looked up in time to see Genma running towards Yakumo with his right fist raised and ready to hit her. Acting quickly, Naruto ran in front of her and raised his claymore to parry the blow using the flat side of the blade. Seeing this, the jonin changed strategy and, instead of trying to hit Naruto directly, he tried to strike him a hook but he was still too far to hit him and the punch missed Naruto.

The blond, for a just a brief moment, wondered how a jonin with such experience as Genma could make such an error, and the answer to his doubts came when he saw his opponent continue to turn on his axis without stopping. Using the momentum of the failed stroke, Genma gained speed to hit the claymore with a rotating kick using the left leg. The strength of the kick was such as to force Naruto to apply chakra to his feet to not be thrown off, but this did not prevent him from being pushed back a couple of meters, slamming against Yakumo who had just dispelled the effects of the blinding.

Still looking at Genma, Naruto saw him continue to turn but with three kunai ready in his left hand and the blond understood immediately that neither he nor Yakumo were his targets. As predicted by him, Genma flung the three kunai towards Ami who was still trying to recover, forcing Naruto to run towards her but after not even a step, he felt his left leg lose sensitivity and, looking down, saw four senbon needles stuck in his leg. Without caring about the damage suffered at that moment, he raised his head again and shouted "Ami jump to the left!"

Hearing his voice, she did as requested and, albeit clumsily, jumped in that direction, avoiding the kunai. Genma grinned at Naruto's quick thought, but his gaze was focused on the defenseless form of Yakumo, who was still on the ground after Naruto had been pushed against her. From what he had been told by Yūgao, Yakumo had improved a lot in recent months and her body was no longer weak and fragile, which meant...

"KAI!"

Dispersing the illusion, Genma saw Yakumo's body dissolve in the air and in his peripheral vision the jonin saw something on his right. Acting without thinking, Genma arched his back, avoiding a high kick of Yakumo that otherwise would have hit him in the face. Before she could retreat, he grabbed the ankle of the leg used to stand up and threw her against Naruto who, despite having a paralyzed leg, managed to catch his partner without causing any damage.

"I'm sorry Naruto, I wasn't quick enough." said Yakumo catching her breath.

"No need to apologize. I should have kept him more busy but he managed to surprise me with these needles." replied Naruto removing them from his leg, feeling the wounds close in a few seconds.

' _With him being an Uzumaki and also a Jinchuuriki, that kind of damage won't do anything to him. I managed to surprise him once but I'm pretty sure he won't let himself be caught unprepared again._ ' thought Genma looking at his opponents as Ami walked toward her teammates, still rubbing her eyes.

"Damn, every time he seems to have a tactic ready to use." said Ami looking at the jonin who smirked at her.

"He used the result of our attacks to the fullest." explained Naruto with a calm voice "When he found himself surrounded by steam, he threw those balls to blind us but instead of using the distraction to retreat among the trees, he preferred to attack us by exploiting the fact that steam, as well as fog, can be used to reduce the effects of external light, so he could run towards us without slowing down and without suffering any disturbance from those flashes."

"Excellent analysis of the facts. Things like this are not taught at the academy but I'm sure you've got to learn them your way." said Genma still grinning before taking out a scroll. Channeling a bit of chakra into the scroll, he generated a small poof of smoke then showing them a katana with a gray sheath and hilt.

Ami looked at him with surprise "Genma-san...you're a swordsman too?"

"Spending a lot of time together with Hayate and Yūgao I ended up learning something but I'm not at their level." explained Genma placing the katana at his left side while Yakumo summoned her rapier, gaining a curious look from the jonin "Interesting...never seen a weapon like that..."

Yakumo showed a little grin "Soon you will see it very close."

"I guess so..." shrugged Genma placing another senbon between his teeth "Ready?"

Naruto gripped with determination his claymore while Ami did the same with the tantō and Yakumo stood at Naruto's side, rapier ready to strike.

Genma's grin widened a bit "I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

[ _Meantime_ – **Hokage's Office** ]

"Ah, Genma has decided to take it out." said Hayate looking at his friend's weapon through the crystal ball of the Hokage who was using Tōmegane no Jutsu (Telescope Technique) to watch the fight between Genma and Team Blade.

"Which means that he decided to get serious." said Yūgao with a small smile "However, I am more impressed by the weapon of Yakumo, that is a beautiful..."

"Rapier." said Hiruzen for her, surprising them.

"Hokage-sama, have you already seen a weapon like that?" asked Hayate with curiosity evident in his voice.

The old ninja chuckled a bit "Not in person, however, when I was still a child, Hashirama-sama showed me some ancient scrolls where many foreign weapons were described. The rapier was one of them, besides Naruto and Yakumo told me about her weapon even if they did not have one yet, until today at least."

"I wonder why those weapons are not common around here..." mumbled Hayate looking at the masterpiece held by Yakumo.

"Most likely because those are weapons used mainly in the West, beyond the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind. From what my teacher told me, the inhabitants of the West did not usually come to these lands so we have little information about them and they are also not very detailed. Moreover, those parchments date back to a period before the Warring States Period, so many documents must have been lost during those innumerable conflicts." said the Hokage still looking at the fight in the crystal ball.

"Such a pity..." grimaced Yūgao since the rapier was indeed a wonderful weapon in her eyes "Well, let's see how they handle Genma and his Sen Hari (Thousand Needles)..."

* * *

[ _At the same time_ – **Training Ground Thirteen** ]

Genma carefully watched his three adversaries without moving a muscle, studying their stances ' _Naruto is certainly the one who is physically stronger and his weapon is a sufficient proof, yet he is extremely fast and is more skilled than the other two. Ami is certainly fast and her weapon suggests a style based on quick and precise attacks, at least until she decides to use those two wakizashi. Lastly, Yakumo...she's a troublesome one...I've never seen a weapon like that, but at first glance it seems to me to be made more for the lunges than for simple slashes. I need to be careful..._ '

Suddenly, Naruto ran forward, covering his blade with Fūton chakra, while Ami and Yakumo spread out on the sides. Genma guessed the basic tactic and acted accordingly by channeling Katon chakra into his blade and then going against Naruto, crossing blades with him. The two found themselves in a standstill for several seconds until Yakumo came up for a lunge. Genma then tried to kick away Naruto but the boy jumped back on his own to avoid the blow.

Turning to Yakumo, the jonin prepared to intercept her with a horizontal slash but she understood his intentions and stopped before jumping back, but that did not prevent Genma from slashing the air in front of him, surprising the girl when three burning senbon hit her in the left arm, making her scream in pain.

Even Naruto widened his eyes in surprise seeing the little needles ' _How did he throw them? I was watching him and both hands were on the hilt of his katana..._ '

Before he could find an answer, Ami tried to get behind Genma but the jonin immediately noticed her and turned to face the purple haired girl, being surprised when he saw two more Ami appear while she was still running toward him. However, his surprise did not last long because with a series of quick slashes, two Ami faded and the real girl fell back first to the ground with hot needles in her legs.

"Fūton: Furyuu no Jutsu (Wind Release: Wind Dragon)!"

Genma had to jump away immediately to avoid being hit by a large Chinese dragon made entirely of wind that continued to chase after the failed assault. While the jonin was busy avoiding the dragon, Naruto immediately went to Yakumo and after lifting her, he moved close to Ami, helping them remove the needles from their bodies.

"It seems that Genma did not hit vital points, and that Katon chakra also cauterized the wounds when you were hit." said Naruto looking at the two girls just when the dragon was dispelled by a Katon jutsu. Looking back at their opponent, Naruto saw his serious eyes "However I think I understand the secret of his attack."

Genma raised an eyebrow "Oh? Please, do tell..."

"The answer is simple..." said Naruto pointing at his katana "There are seals on that blade."

Yakumo and Ami looked with surprised eyes at Genma who smirked at them, showing the guard of his katana and, sure enough, there were six little seals on it.

"My family is not from Konoha, nor from the Land of Fire." said Genma with a calm voice "My grandfather was a ninja from Ame but then decided to move with his family here to change his life. It was he who taught my father, who later taught me, to use senbon needles to fight, and this katana here is a family heirloom. His name is Sen Hari, and you can guess why."

"In those seals are contained your senbon needles that you throw at the moment you attack with the katana. Channeling the chakra into the blade distracts the attention from the seals on the guard so as not to alarm your opponents when you decide to use those seals because they can not see where that chakra ends if the whole blade is pervaded with chakra." said Yakumo quickly understanding the tactic used by Genma who smiled at her.

"Correct. Thanks to this little trick, I can also keep the approaching enemies at bay." explained the jonin before sheathing his sword "I think that's enough for today."

"What?!" shouted Ami wincing for the pain in her legs "It's already over?!"

"Of course." chuckled Genma "This is a test for genin, not for jonin. If I had to test the skills of a jonin I would have used my katana immediately and not only that. I just had to make sure you were ready for the life waiting for you and I must say that you are not bad at all. Naruto is the best of you without doubt, but you two..." he looked at Ami and Yakumo "You two are certainly on the right track to become excellent kunoichi."

They smiled at him bowing in gratitude and that's when Hayate and Yūgao appeared behind them.

"Congratulations! You're now officially a team!" smiled the purple haired woman while Hayate nodded with a little grin "Tomorrow, find yourself here at the same time, your first mission awaits you. Ami, do not come home late."

The three genin were left alone soon after when the three jonin shunshined away. Ami collapsed immediately on the ground "Man, Genma-san is really strong..."

"I think he was holding back against us." said Yakumo with a little smile before looking down at her weapon "I could not use my new rapier..."

"Don't worry about that. You will have your chance." said Naruto leaning against a tree "It was still interesting to fight against Genma. His style is certainly particular."

"He is also very good with it. He managed to hit me and Ami in motion without causing permanent damage." added Yakumo after sealing her rapier in a seal on her left wrist.

"That's Genma-san for you...he blocked me spitting a senbon!" groaned Ami rubbing her legs.

"He's a jonin after all." said Naruto before walking away from the training ground "Do not strain too much until you have been medicated. Have a good day."

Ami looked at him until he was of sight "I have to say...he's really strange..."

"What do you mean?" asked Yakumo looking at her teammate.

"I don't know..." admitted Ami with a sigh "Sometimes he looks like a normal boy, sometimes he looks like a veteran ninja with years of experience...it's...strange..."

Yakumo nodded slowly. She was aware of Naruto's past, since he had revealed it to her after a few months that they had started training together but she had been asked not to reveal that information to anyone. With a sigh, she stood up and then helped Ami get up "What about a little celebration? We are genin after all!"

"I like the sound of it!" grinned Ami wincing again "But first...the hospital..."

"Yeah...you may be right..." nodded Yakumo wincing in turn. Damn senbon needles...

Meanwhile, Naruto was quietly returning home receiving a lot of looks from the civilians, even though many of the women were watching him with red cheeks, more specifically they were looking at his bare chest.

' _ **You did not tell them about your intentions for tomorrow.**_ ' said Kurama with a hint of amusement in her voice.

' _There was no need to tell them. They will find out anyway._ ' replied Naruto with a little grin making her chuckle.

' _ **Oh I can already hear the screams of that Ami. She'll be so~ mad!**_ '

' _I am sure that they will understand my point of view._ '

Kurama grinned in his mindscape ' _ **We'll see.**_ '

* * *

[ _The next day_ – **Naruto's House** ]

Sipping a cup of coffee, Naruto looked at the clock on the wall ' _Mh...ten o'clock. Strange that nothing has happened yet._ '

As soon as he said those words, a scream echoed throughout the village.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!"

"It seems that Ami has exhausted her patience." mused Naruto reading a newspaper while sitting on an armchair in his living room.

' _ **There were doubts about it? It is already a miracle that she lasted three hours.**_ ' said Kurama with a chuckle.

A second scream followed the first.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Naruto arched an eyebrow "I'm not sure about this...but that sounded like Sakura Haruno's voice."

' _ **Her sensei is that scarecrow, remember?**_ '

"Ah yes, Kakashi Hatake...I still have to understand why he has a habit of being late."

' _ **Right now you're late too.**_ ' deadpanned Kurama.

"I've a good reason."

Just at that moment, a third shout was heard in the air.

"YOOOOOOOOUTH!"

"Mh...Rock Lee and Guy-sensei. Nothing strange." shrugged Naruto sipping more coffee. After a few minutes of silence, someone knocked on the front door but thanks to his senses, he already knew who it was. Laying the paper on the table, he went to the door and opened it without hesitation, finding himself facing one Ami on the verge of a hysterical crisis, one Yakumo who was looking at him with worried eyes and to finish one Yūgao who had a disapproving look on her face.

"Good morning." said Naruto with a bow "Would you like a cup of coffee?"

Ami's eye twitched a couple of times "Do you have any idea what time it is?!"

"Yes, ten o'clock. Why?"

"You're late for our mission! That's why!" shouted Ami making them wince.

"You mean our chore." said Naruto without missing a beat.

"Uh?" Ami and Yakumo tilted their heads to the side while Yūgao sighed.

"Naruto, I know that you dislike those missions but they're necessary." said the jonin looking at her male student who merely snorted.

"Those D-rank missions are just chores for genin. Nothing more, nothing less." he looked at Ami and Yakumo "Have you ever noticed groups of genin perform very strange commissions, such as shopping, painting a fence and things like that?"

Ami scratched her cheek for a second "Well...I saw three genin while they were cutting the branches of some trees...and there was a jonin nearby that was watching them."

"Those genin were carrying out a D-rank mission." deadpanned Naruto shocking Ami who quickly looked at their sensei. Since there was no reason to lie to her team, Yūgao nodded.

"He's right, Ami. The D-rank missions are...chores." explained the purple haired woman with another sigh "They are used to make the team start to act like one and develop a certain level of teamwork. Cleaning a garden, delivering packages, cleaning the roof of a house, repairing a fence...the list is very long."

"What the hell?! Those are not missions!" said Ami and Yakumo found herself in agreement with her teammate.

"Because they are used to run the village economy." said Naruto catching their attention "The missions that are assigned are always requests from a client who needs ninja to complete those requests. The D-rank missions are always commissions or jobs required by the villagers, who are often too lazy to carry out those errands on their own, but they are still missions and so the teams that complete said missions are always rewarded. However, those missions are chores and no one can deny it."

Yūgao rubbed her temples "I know Naruto, I know...but you can't take a C-rank mission right away. You can probably handle something like that, maybe Yakumo too, but Ami isn't at your level yet. If you want a real mission then you must complete thirty D-rank missions."

"Thirty?!" Ami couldn't believe this. She barely die the chores at home! How could they force her to do the chores of others!

"Completing those chores will take time away from our training and I do not think it's worth it." said Naruto slowly raising his arms "But if we must complete them...Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"

With a poof of smoke, a perfect clone of Naruto appeared at his side, surprising Ami who pointed at the clone "Hey! That's a jutsu I saw in the Scroll of Seals! How do you know it?!"

"Hayate-sensei taught me, and I'm not the only one who knows it." explained Naruto looking at Yūgao who sighed for the third time.

"Do you want to use clones while we train?" asked their sensei "The Hokage could get angry if he were to find out..."

"I'm sure he will notice it as soon as he sees the clones, since they have less chakra than the original." nodded Naruto crossing his arms over the chest "Now...your answer?"

Yūgao groaned "I'm sure this will be just the first of a long series of problems with this team..." a little smile soon appeared on her face "Oh well...at least things won't be boring with you." and with that she performed the same jutsu, creating a clone of herself. Ami's shock reached new heights when even Yakumo used that technique.

"Y-You too?!"

The two Yakumo scratched their cheeks "Yes, Naruto taught it to me a couple of months ago but I can create only one clone. That's my limit for now."

"That's not fair...does that mean I'll have to be the only one to do those chores?!"

Yūgao looked at Naruto who merely shrugged before performing the same jutsu again but then, the new clone henged himself into Ami, surprising his teammate.

"Now you can train with us." said Naruto with a nod, earning a grin from Ami who nodded as well.

"Hell yeah!" shouted her raising a fist before looking at their sensei "Do you think that I can learn that jutsu?"

"Right now? No." Yūgao shook her head before smiling "But with enough training, we'll see to teach it to you too. Now, about some D-rank missions?"

The clones nodded as one before shunshining away, toward the Hokage Tower while Naruto walked back into his house to prepare himself.

It was time for some real training.

* * *

[ _Two weeks later_ – **Hokage's Office** ]

"Hokage-sama, I think my team is ready for a C-rank mission." said Yūgao looking at their leader who smiled at them.

"You think so?" the aged leader looked at Iruka who was in the office as well "How many D-rank missions have they completed?"

"Let's see...forty-two missions, Hokage-sama. Currently they are the team that has done more missions." said Iruka looking at a clipboard in his hands.

"Oh I wonder how...you're really fast with those missions, especially if we take into account that you also train both in team and individually." added Hiruzen with a low chuckle. Obviously he already knew the secret but since Naruto had revealed to him the secret to defeating paperwork, he had decided not to reject the idea. Also Hiruzen also thought that those missions were only chores but unfortunately they were needed for the economy of the village.

"We're simply fast, Hokage-sama." replied Yūgao without losing his seriousness.

"I see I see...then you'll receive a C-rank mission." nodded Hiruzen with a smile seeing the excited looks of Ami and Yakumo. Naruto, of course, wasn't showing his emotions but that was normal for him "Send in Tazuna."

After a few seconds of waiting, a man was let into the office and all the members of Team Blade had to try hard not to vomit because of the smell of poor alcohol that had attacked their nostrils. The bespectacled man in front of them had short gray hair, a large beard and wore simple clothes, but unfortunately what immediately jumped at the nose was the smell of alcohol. Nothing surprising as he was drinking even in front of them.

"Uh? This is supposed to be the team that will protect me? Three brats and a woman? I can understand the woman since she seems quite reliable to me but the others are children, slightly older than my grandson!" said Tazuna before taking a swing of alcohol from his bottle.

"You do not have to worry, Tazuna-san." said Hiruzen ignoring the smell "This is my best team of genin right now. Your in good hands with them."

"Mh...if you say so..." grumbled Tazuna looking at genin. Ami was very close to stab him with her tantō but Yūgao was ready to stop her, Yakumo was looking at him with serious eyes feeling a little offended by his words, while Naruto was the same as usual only that his gaze seemed to freeze Tazuna on the spot, making him gulp.

' _What the hell are those eyes...?_ ' thought the old man before shaking his head "Anyway, your job is to escort me to my home, to the Land of Waves, and to protect me as I complete the bridge that will connect our land to the Land of Fire."

"All right team." said Yūgao clapping her hands "Go and get ready and meet me at the South Gate in twenty minutes. Prepare enough stocks for at least two weeks to be sure."

The three genin nodded before leaving the office while their sensei looked at the client "Also, Tazuna-san, it'd be wise to clear your mind from the alcohol. Its smell is really strong and you need a clear mind during the trip, or we can't guarantee for your safety."

Tazuna waved her off with his free hand "Yeah yeah I got it. Geez...you sound like my daughter..." and with that, he left the office too. The jonin turned to the Hokage and, after bowing, went off to get ready.

"Hokage-sama, are you sure about this? Maybe it is too early for them..." said Iruka looking at his leader who looked at the ceiling with serious eyes.

"Naruto is more than ready, and the same goes for Yakumo. While Ami is not as strong as them, I know that they will protect her." said Hiruzen before looking at the amount of papers on his desk with a small smirk "Not today damn beast, not today. Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Technique)!"

As Iruka watched two clones of the Hokage work while the true Hiruzen was quietly reading an orange book, he could not help but think ' _I need to learn that jutsu..._ '

* * *

[ _Two_ _hours_ _later_ – **Road to Land of Waves** ]

"Um...I know you ninja are good and all...but are you sure you have taken everything?" asked Tazuna looking at his escort.

Yakumo looked at him "What do you mean?"

"Well you don't have a backpack." he said tapping the one on his back "Your sensei told you to bring with you two weeks of supplies, right?"

The heiress of the Kurama clan smiled at him before grabbing a scroll from her pouch "All we need is here. Food, clothes, a tent and so on."

The man raised an eyebrow "That's a really good trick. You can take with you a lot of things without being slowed down...a good trick indeed."

"Yeah...trick..." snorted Ami at his left. During the last two weeks she had received more training than Naruto and Yakumo because of their advantage and, like Yakumo, she had also learned the basics of Fūinjutsu so she could create the most basic seals by herself. Also she had improved a lot in the use of her swords and her special technique (special for her), the Zanzō Bunshin (Afterimage Clone).

"Remember that something that is normal for us may seem almost impossible for others." said Naruto walking at the front of the formation with Yūgao behind everyone.

Ami grumbled something before asking "Hey Tazuna-san, why did you come to Konoha for a mission? Aren't there any ninja in the Land of Waves?"

"No, there aren't. Ours is a small nation, so we rely on the ninja of other nations when needed." explained Tazuna looking at her. Ami nodded satisfied but then she saw something strange.

About a hundred meters from them, in the middle of the road, there was a puddle. Normally such a thing would not have raised any suspicion, but it hadn't rained for two weeks and so it was impossible that a puddle could last under the sun for so many days. Looking to her right, Ami winced at seeing Yakumo's blood-thirsty gaze staring at the puddle as if it were her worst enemy.

Suddenly, her gaze brightened and the girl turned to their sensei "Yūgao-sensei, I need a little break."

Yūgao looked at her with serious eyes but nodded, stopping the whole group. As Yakumo walked in the bushes, Tazuna groaned "We left only two hours ago and she must already go to the bathroom?"

"Unfortunately she had a weak body and a poor health. She has improved but sometimes her body has some little moments in which she can not resist, so to speak." explained Naruto looking back but, while he was talking to Tazuna, his eyes were on Ami.

The purple haired genin widened her eyes in surprise before nodding once ' _He also noticed the puddle, which means we have to stay alert. If there's one thing I've understood in these two weeks it's that he has that look only when the situation is really serious..._ '

"Here I am, sorry for the wait." said Yakumo walking toward them with a small smile on her lips. Their sensei nodded and the group started walking again, until they reached the puddle. When they passed by, nothing happened but as soon as Yūgao left it behind her, the puddle seemed to come to life and two figures shrouded in dark cloaks emerged from it. The two men had rebreathers covering their mouths but the most peculiar thing was the shuriken chain connected to the gauntlets they wore, one on his right arm while the other wore his on the left arm.

Before the Konoha shinobi could react, the two assassins wrapped the chain around Yūgao and with a violent tug they tore her body to pieces, spilling blood all around. A scream rose in the air when Ami saw her aunt's body fall to the ground while Yakumo stood paralyzed for a few moments. Naruto turned around holding his claymore but when he struck a blow to one of the two killers, they jumped over him and aimed at Tazuna who had remained uncovered. The old man tried to escape but found himself wrapped in the chain and, in an instant, even his body was torn to pieces.

"Mission completed!" said one of the assassins.

"Let's get out of here!" said the other throwing smoke bombs on the ground that generated a thick cloud of smoke. While the two were running as fast as they could, neither of them noticed the blood on their chain dissolving as slowly as the bodies they had left behind. When the smoke was completely thinned out, in the middle of the road there were Team Blade and Tazuna, perfectly unharmed.

"W-What was that...?!" asked Tazuna looking at Yakumo who smirked.

"A Genjutsu." she said pointing at the ground "From a distance we noticed the puddle that hid those two ninja and when I went in the bush with an excuse I created a Genjutsu to blow their cover."

"And you did a great job." said Yūgao with a smile making her blush a bit "Those were the Demon Brothers, two missing nin of Kiri specialized in assassination missions...I wonder why they were here and why they aimed precisely at you, Tazuna-san..."

Feeling the eyes of the team upon him, Tazuna gulped loudly "I...I..."

"You lied." said Naruto with a calm voice but his eyes were cold as ice "They have targeted you for a reason and that reason will be more than enough to turn this mission into a B or A-rank mission."

Tazuna looked at each one of them before sighing "Yes...you're right...I lied to your Hokage. I really need protection but I do not have to be protected by simple bandits..."

"Someone hired those ninjas to kill you..." realized Ami before adding "Holy shit! Their client must hate you so much, in addition to the fact that he must be very rich!"

"Language!" hissed Yūgao glaring at her niece before looking back Tazuna "Tell us everything, and I mean **everything**."

Tazuna gulped again before telling them about the situation of his nation, how Gatō had drained his inhabitants of all they had and how the bridge he was building was the only way to save the Land of Waves. The four ninja listened carefully until he had finished, then they looked at each other.

"So...what do we do?" asked Ami looking at their sensei who sighed rubbing her forehead.

"Tazuna-san, do you have any idea how dangerous the situation is? I understand that you do not have money but that does not mean you have to lie! You could have killed my team with your idea of lying! Those two were chūnin! Not bandits!" he looked at the ground, ashamed with himself "We should follow the protocol, abort the mission and put you and all the inhabitants of your village on our blacklist."

Tazuna bit his lower lip ' _It's over..._ '

"But unfortunately I'm sure my team would never forgive me, isn't it?" there was a hint of amusement in her voice as she looked at the three genin, each one looking back at her.

"You know us well, sensei." smiled Yakumo while Ami grinned with a nod.

"People like this Gatō are destined to die, one way or another. It doesn't seem right to make those people suffer further." said Naruto with a cold voice, almost seeing in front of him a certain blond man with sunglasses and a light pink feather coat ' _That Doflamingo tried to do the same thing but was stopped. It is time to repeat the story but without taking prisoners. Fools like Gatō do not deserve a second chance._ '

"It is decided then, we will continue the mission." declared Yūgao with a nod while Tazuna looked at them with tears in his eyes.

"T-Thank you! Thank you! I will repay you all, I promise!"

"Oh I know you will, Tazuna-san..." said Yūgao placing a hand on his shoulder with a sweet smile before whispering "But know that if anything happens to my team, Gatō will be the last of your worries..."

The old man paled at her words but nodded anyway. Now he was really walking on a very thin ice...

* * *

[ _A few hours later_ – **Somewhere in the Land of Waves** ]

"The mission was a success, boss!" said Meizu opening the door of their secret hideout with his brother right behind him.

A tall man currently sitting on a bed looked at them for a moment "Really?"

"Yes, we killed the bridge builder and the jonin of the team that was supposed to protect him!" said Meizu with a grin hidden by his rebreather.

"They were three brats and a woman, nothing too complicated." added Gōzu.

The man narrowed his eyes before looking at his right where there was a figure wearing an ANBU mask "What do you think?"

The figure looked at the twin brothers "Have you already cleaned your weapons?"

"Uh? No, why?" asked Gōzu tilting his head before falling to his knees due to the KI that was crushing him and his brother.

"Look at your chain, idiot!" growled the man raising from the bed. The two did as requested and were confused to see it completely clean.

"B-But...we tore them to pieces!" said Meizu as his brother nodded.

The figure with the ANBU mask looked at them "Where did you prepare the ambush? What tactic did you use?"

When the KI weakened to make them talk without problems, Meizu said "Within a couple of hours from Konoha, we used the Puddle Genjutsu to hit them from behind." and a moment later he found himself on his knees again, same for his brother.

"You fools! A puddle in the middle of the road when it has not rained for weeks!" shouted the man scaring them before letting them go. With another growl, he looked at the masked figure "Genjutsu?"

"Most likely." nodded the ANBU "What now? Gatō will want to know something about the mission."

"I'll talk to him later, now I have to go and complete a mission that you..." he glared at the Demon Brothers "...have not been able to do." and with that, he walked away with the ANBU disappearing soon after.

"Man...he's always scary..." said Gōzu breathing a sigh of relief.

"Yes I know...I almost fell sorry for those brats." said Meizu "Almost..."

"A former member of the Kiri no Shinobigatana Shichinin Shū (Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist)...talking about overkill." replied Gōzu with a laugh which was soon shared by his brother.

Now the mission would really be completed.

* * *

[ _One hour_ _later_ – **S** **hore** **in the Land of Waves** ]

"Thank you for everything." said Tazuna bowing to a man on a boat.

"Don't sweet it. I only hope that you'll complete your bridge. Good luck Tazuna." said the man before leading his boat away from the shore. The group began to advance in the middle of a forest with a lake not far away, when suddenly a thick mist surrounded them completely.

"Wow...I can't see anything..." said Ami looking around.

"Strange...this fog shouldn't be here at this hour..." mumbled Tazuna "Such a thing can only be seen in the morning."

Naruto and Yūgao narrowed their eyes. That mist wasn't natural, it was loaded with a lot of chakra and Naruto could not identify the origin, but for just a moment, he felt a surge of energy in front of them "EVERYONE! DOWN!"

Hurrying quickly, he jumped toward Tazuna and slammed him to the ground while Yūgao did the same thing with Ami and Yakumo just a second before a beam of electricity passed over their heads. The team got up quickly just in time to see a big man appear a few yards away from them, a man s Yūgao he instantly recognized.

"What the hell is he doing here...?"

"So you're the team who fooled the Demon Brothers, huh?" asked the man with a grin looking at them while Yūgao gripped the handle of her katana.

"To meet someone like him here. Honestly I did not expect such a thing." said Naruto with the claymore ready to strike.

"Do you know him?" asked Ami still looking at the man and the two strange swords in his hands.

"Of course I do. He's one of the best swordsmen in the Elemental Nations." said Naruto as electricity started to dance around the blades of the man in front of them "Kirigakure no Raijin (Thunder of the Hidden Mist), Raiga Kurosuki."

"I hope you are proud of your lives..." said Raiga crossing his blades in front of him "Because right now I will prepare a beautiful funeral just for you!"

* * *

 **TO BE CONTINUED...**

* * *

 **FINALLY! IT'S OVER! THE THIRD CHAPTER IS DONE!**

 **I'm really sorry for the delay! I hope you enjoyed the chapter as we just discovered one the biggest plot twist of my story! No Zabuza for you guys! It's Raiga's time to shine! Of course, everything will be explained for why he is here with the Demon Brothers, but who is the mysterious ANBU? We'll found out in the next chapter!**

 **Today I'm in a hurry, so time to say goodbye for now!**

 **See you around and have a nice morning/day/night!**


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